Along the Way
by vmars15
Summary: A collection of moments from Puck's childhood that have shaped him to be who is he today. There will be Puck/Quinn goodness! Rated T for future chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Noah Puckerman was never responsible. This irresponsibility could be traced back all the way to when he was in elementary school. He was eight and in Mrs. Somerville's class. They had a pet mouse named Lola. Every Friday, one student would be selected to take home Lola for the weekend and take care of her. This student would be picked based on who Mrs. Somerville had thought had acted the most responsible that week. Every kid in the class had taken Lola home once. Some kids had been able to bring her home twice. Quinn Fabray had been chosen three times. Everyone had brought Lola home for the weekend… except for Noah Puckerman.

One day, when Mrs. Puckerman was driving Noah home from school, he casually mentioned this fact. His mom looked at him and asked him why he had never been chosen. He told her the teacher's standard reason: He misbehaved too much to be given the opportunity to take care of Lola. His mom seemed angry at that response. So angry, that she turned the car around and drove back to the school. She excited the car, told Noah to stay put, and headed inside the school. She came back out to the car about seven minutes later. She remained silent as they drove home.

The next day, a Friday, Mrs. Somerville called the kids to the magic carpet so she could announce who had won the privilege to bring Lola home. All the kids sat down, Noah sat beside his best friend Matt Rutherford, and waited to hear that Quinn Fabray would be taking home Lola for the fourth time. She had brought cupcakes for the whole class on Tuesday, which she had done a month ago, and was thus given the opportunity to bring the pet mouse home. Noah expected everything to go the same route. He just hoped that the announcement would go by fast so that he could go back to playing Lego with Matt. He hated sitting on the magic carpet, as it meant that he had to sit still. He wasn't very good at doing that.

"Girls and boys, I am very proud of your behaviour this week. You have been very good. This week Lola will be going to a new home, one that she hasn't seen before. That's because Noah will be taking her home."

Noah could not believe it. He was going to take home Lola! He was going to prove to Mrs. Somerville and the rest of the kids that he was responsible. He couldn't contain his excitement, and he put a huge smile on his face.

His good thoughts were crushed pretty quickly though. Quinn Fabray stood up when Mrs. Somerville made her announcement and said, "That's not fair! I brought in cupcakes! Noah's a bad kid! He put a worm in Samantha's shoe yesterday!"

Noah was angry at Quinn. She was such a goody-goody, and a tattletale. He wished that she wouldn't be so mean. She had brought Lola home three times. It was his turn. He deserved it. He was about to walk over to the other side of the carpet and push Quinn, but Mrs. Somerville started talking again.

"This week, Noah is taking it home so he can be given an opportunity to be responsible. I'm sure he will make us all proud of him. Be nicer Quinn."

Quinn was embarrassed that the teacher had chastised her in front of everyone. Her parents would be very mad if they found out. They wouldn't though, because Quinn would leave out that detail. However, she would make Noah feel bad because he deserved it. Lola was rightfully hers to take home, but Noah was bringing her home instead. It wasn't fair, which meant that Quinn had to get back at Noah. That was the natural order of things.

After Mrs. Somerville dismissed them from the magic carpet, they were sent off to play in groups again. Noah and Matt headed back to their favourite area of the room, beside the floor length window, and started playing with their Lego again. However, Quinn followed them to their play area and stood in front of them, watching them build. Noah tried to ignore her. Quinn always made him so frustrated. She acted so perfect, and always was trying to make the other kids feel like they weren't good enough to wipe her shoes. But she kept standing there, watching him and Matt play, and soon Noah became fed up. Enough was enough.

"What are you looking at?" He sneered, and stood up so he could tower over Quinn. Well, not really tower over, but at 4'4, he was two inches taller than Quinn, and at eight years old, that was all that mattered.

Quinn, even as a child, knew that she would come across best if she didn't let her emotions come across. Ice Queen Fabray would be a nickname she would earn later on in life, but it still rang true when Quinn was in the second grade. So, she kept her emotions in check when she said, "You better not kill Lola this weekend."

Noah was surprised. He didn't think Quinn was going to say that, and the thought of being able to kill the pet mouse had never crossed his mind before. But now that it had, he started worrying. He had killed the plant his mother had elected him to water in the summer, and that was just a _plant_! Maybe he would kill Lola! Noah couldn't let that happen though, because it would prove that all the things that people said about him were right. He would be irresponsible, and a bad kid, and immature. Noah shook those feelings out of his head, he wouldn't kill Lola. He would be careful, and be the best pet taker-carer there was in the whole class!

"I'm not going to kill her. I'm going to take care of her."

Quinn sighed. "All I know is that my mom told me that killers burn in hell."

Noah and Matt gasped that Quinn had used the h-word. Even they were told not to use those words, and they were the bad boys of the class. Quinn was the good girl, so she should defiantly not be using that type of language.

Quinn was satisfied with herself so she smoothed out her white cotton dress and walked away from the boys, so she could go back to playing with the ponies with her best friend, Santana.

Noah started to worry throughout the day. What if he did kill Lola? He had done a lot of stupid things in his eight years of existence, so he didn't put it past himself. No, he told himself, he was not going to be dumb. He would be very careful, and take care of Lola, and Quinn would be jealous that Mrs. Somerville liked him more than her. Then, Noah wouldn't have to worry about burning in hell. He would be able to have fun, ride his bike around town, become a firefighter, marry and have a kid, and then die in his sleep and go up to heaven to be with his grandfather. That's what good kids do, and Noah wanted to be a good kid. It wasn't his fault that being bad was just much more fun!

At the end of the day, Noah's mom came to pick him up. She walked into the class so she could carry the materials that Lola needed out to the car. She told Noah that he would have to hold Lola, and that he better not let her escape, because if she found Lola in her bed when she was trying to sleep, she would hit him across the head with the broom. Noah didn't mind, he thought that mice were cool anyways.

Noah noticed that Quinn was staring at him when he was walking out the door with his mother. She was waiting with her mother, the woman Noah always thought looked like a clown, and gave him a very jealous look. It was obvious that she was mad Lola wasn't coming home with her. Noah smiled, she shouldn't expect to be perfect and always be picked. Sometimes she had to learn that things don't always go her way. So, to make her even more angry, as Noah was walking out the door, he turned around, made sure that Quinn was looking at him, and stuck his tongue out at her, held Lola up high, and then turned around and walked back out the door. This weekend was going to redeem his reputation in Mrs. Somerville's eyes, not to mention the other students, well maybe not Quinn, but that wasn't expected anyways.

So Noah held onto Lola the entire ride home. He stroked her fur, and set her cage up in his bedroom once he got home. His mom reminded him what times he would have to feed Lola, and told him not to forget to keep the cage closed at all times. Noah nodded. She didn't even need to tell him all of that, because he had promised himself that he was going to be responsible, and he wasn't going to screw it all up.

Noah was so good with Lola. He fed her when he was supposed to, he played with her gently and nicely, and made sure her cage was always kept locked up. His mom even told him that he was such a good boy, and was being so amazing. She told him that he was going to be a great big brother in six months when his little brother or sister would be born. Noah loved being complimented. It didn't happen often, except when Matt would tell him he was so cool for pushing Santana in the mud, or stealing all the class cookies for them both to sneak away and eat together. Regardless, Noah loved to be highlighted for being good. It made him feel special inside.

But on Sunday night things took a turn for the worse. Noah's step-father, Ian, had come home from a business trip and as usual, he started fighting with Noah's mother during dinnertime. Noah didn't understand much of what they were arguing about, but he knew that it had something to do with the baby. Puck couldn't take the yelling anymore so he walked away from the table, went to his room to grab Lola, and walked outside to sit on the steps outside.

He pet Lola as he muttered, "Why do they always yell at each other? They're supposed to _love_ each other."

At least he had Lola. Maybe tonight would be a night of fighting and yelling, but tomorrow he would go to class and everyone would be so impressed that he had been able to take care of Lola for the whole weekend! Without any help either! He had done it all by himself, and he knew that would make Mrs. Somerville proud… and it would make Quinn Fabray extremely jealous. Noah smirked. Quinn was pretty when she was mad… he didn't mean that. Girls had cooties, especially goodie-two-shoe girls like Quinn Fabray.

At that moment, Noah felt Lola start to squirm in his hands. He tried to hold on tighter, but she had slipped away at that second. She had escaped his grasp, and was scurrying away. Noah started running after her. She was running around in circles, and Noah was getting dizzy. He slid into the ground, hoping to grab Lola, but she was an inch too far away when he reached out, and all he managed on doing was sliding in a puddle of mud. He saw Lola darting out onto the street, and that is when Noah Puckerman saw one of the most horrifying sights he would ever see in his entire life.

A car was passing by the house just as Lola had ran out onto the street. There was nothing that Noah could do. He saw the car pass right by, and he saw it run over the mouse. Noah knew she was dead. He immediately started crying. He had ruined everything! He was doing so well too! His mom was so proud of him for once, and Mrs. Somerville would have been as well. Quinn would have been envious of his great pet-keeping skills, and he might have even been able to bring Lola home another weekend. But obviously that plan was ruined. Now everyone was going to be so disappointed. Not only that, they were going to be extremely angry at him! He had killed the beloved pet mouse! Noah remembered Quinn's words. _'Killers burn in hell_.' He shuddered. Maybe she was right… after all she did attend church every Sunday, and she was a good Christian. A much better Christian than he was a Jew.

Puck buried his face in his hands and cried all of the tears he could muster out of himself. But the sadness soon wore off and the frustration began. He started slaming, pounding his fists into the ground. He ran around the front yard screaming, and cursing. Then, he heard the front door open and Ian yell, "What the hell are you doing out here Noah? Get your ass inside immediately before I have to drag you in!"

Noah knew that Ian would hold true to his threat but he was too angry with himself to go inside. He fell down on the ground and started rolling in the mud. He just wanted to disappear. He didn't want to go back to the school and show people how much of a screw-up he actually was. Next, Noah felt hands on both his shoulders pulling him up from off the ground. Ian stood him up, held him in place, and looked him right in the eye.

"You better start listening to me Noah or I'll have to smack you upside the head! You got it?"

Noah was still angry but he didn't want to be hit, so he took a deep breath to try and calm down, and nodded. Ian's face softened and he spoke quieter.

"Geeze Noah, why are you so upset?"

Noah started whimpering and pointed to the street. Ian looked over and saw the dead mouse. He raised his eyebrows. "A dead mouse? Animals die all the time son, it's the circle of life. You should know that, we just watched The Lion King together last week."

Noah shook his head. He tried to be coherent when he explained, "That was the class pet! Lola! Everyone in the class has brought her home except for me, and Mrs. Somerville finally let me have a turn and I was being so good with her! But then you and mom were fighting so I had to go outside! I was just holding her but she got away and I killed her! I killed her!"

Ian sighed. He knew how upset the boy was. He wanted to hug him, but saw the mud that was all over his clothes and decided against it. Instead he replied, "Noah, it's going to be fine. You didn't mean to do it. I'm sure your mom can explain it to the teacher."

"No. No one will believe that. I'm a bad kid."

Ian frowned, and he led Noah back inside. He told Noah to stay at the front door until he got him a towel to wipe some of the mud off with. He heard Ian talking to his mom while he was waiting and then he heard footsteps. Someone was running. He saw his mom and she quickly wrapped him up into a hug, ignoring all the mud that was getting on her. She stroked his back and said, "Noah don't worry. I'll explain it to your teacher. You didn't do anything wrong."

Noah wished he could believe her but he knew that Mrs. Somerville would just think that it figured that the one time she trusted him to take care of Lola is the time where she would come back dead. He didn't even want to think what Quinn would say. So in the morning he told his mom that he was feeling terrible. His stomach was twisting and turning, and he thought that he was going to throw up. Of course, Mrs. Puckerman knew that he was faking, but she knew how upset her son was and thought that missing one day of first grade wouldn't do him any harm.

But the next day was a different story. Noah tried to fake sick again, but his mom wasn't going to allow it this time. She knew that he had to face his fears, and so she made him go to school. When she was dropping him off, she got out of the car as well.

"You go play with your friends honey until the bell rings. I'm going to go in and hand Mrs. Somerville all of Lola's supplies and explain to her what happened."

Noah shook his head and grabbed the cage from his mom. "No, I killed her! I want to be the one to explain it!"

Mrs. Puckerman sighed but gave her son a kiss goodbye and told him that if eh got upset during the day that he should call her immediately.

When the bell rang and Noah walked into class, he walked up to Mrs. Somerville first. He gulped as he handed her the cage. She looked confused and lifted the cage above her head to try and find Lola.

"She's not in there." Noah whispered.

Mrs. Somerville frowned. "Noah, you better not have let her escape in the classroom! You know the other kids are going to be frightened."

Noah shook his head. He felt tears forming in his eyes, but he was a boy and boys were not supposed to cry. Ian told him that a lot, so he held back his tears. He clenched his hands into fists to try and stop from letting the tears fall. He was afraid that his teacher would yell at him, or tell the whole class that he was a murderer. He took a deep breath and said, "I was holding her outside last night but she slipped out of my hands. She ran out on the street and a car… a car ran over her. I'm sorry! I didn't mean to kill her!"

Mrs. Somerville looked at Noah, and he was sure that she was going to yell at him, but instead, she bent down and put her hand on his shoulder. She told him, "Life goes on Noah, things will be okay. Lola is gone, but tomorrow is a brand new day. Everyone makes a couple mistakes somewhere along the way."

Noah smiled. That made him feel better, because it really was a mistake. He watched as Mrs. Somerville went to the front of the class, quieted the kids down and announced, "Children, Noah did an excellent job taking care of Lola over the weekend, but she cannot come back and visit us anymore, because she is in a better place. That place is called heaven."

Quinn gasped. "That's where the dead go! Noah killed Lola!"

The whole class started to tear up and complain but Mrs. Somerville yelled at them to be quiet. "Noah did not kill Lola! He was an excellent pet-sitter, but Lola wanted to be with her family again so she made the decision to go to heaven. Quinn, please do not accuse any of your classmates of being killers again."

Soon after that day people forgot about the Lola incident. A new pet was brought to the classroom. A bunny named Mary, courtesy of Quinn Fabray and her parents. Noah was never chosen to take Mary home. One day he decided to ask Quinn why, as she seemed to be the one that knew everything all of the time.

"Why doesn't Mrs. Somerville ever let me take Mary home? I was really good with Lola."

Quinn looked up from her colouring and stared at Noah. She debated whether or not to tell Noah the truth. She was only six, but she knew that it would hurt his feelings to tell him the truth, and her parents always told her not to do such a thing. But, they also told her to be honest, so she said, "My parents bought the bunny and said everyone can bring her home, but then they told Mrs. Somerville that everyone could but you. They don't like what happened to Lola."

Noah hated the Fabrays from that point on. If only they had known how well he had taken care of the mouse before she ran on to the street! If only they knew how hard he had chased after her trying to get her back! If only they knew how much he had cried, even though he was a boy, when she had died! But they didn't. All they thought was that he was a bad kid who had killed the pet mouse. So Noah swore to himself that he would never be nice to Mr. and Mrs. Fabray. He would be a bad kid, because that's what they thought of him anyways.

So, everyone moved on and forgot about Lola's passing. Everyone that is except Noah. He would always remember that incident. It was the first time he could remember making a mistake so vividly, and it would be an example he would come back to in his life, time and time again. One other person in the class wouldn't forget either, but that's only because she felt sorry that he couldn't take the bunny home because of it. Even if she wouldn't admit it, she thought Noah was good boy who was just prone to making mistakes. He was also funny… but she wouldn't admit that either! Boys have cooties, don't you know.

_I hope you all like this chapter! This story will have events from Puck's childhood, and will have plenty of Puck/Quinn goodness! =)_

_This story is loosely based on the song Along the Way from the musical Edges. If I were you, I wouldn't listen to it until a few chapters down the line because it would reveal some things that will come up in the plot._

_I cannot believe we have to wait until April for new episodes! It will probably drive me mad, but maybe writing will help me get through it! I guess you all should expect many Puck/Quinn stories from me until April._

_If you have the time, I would really appreciate it if you could leave me a review! Writers love feedback!_

_Thanks for reading, and until next time,_

_Happy Reading_


	2. Chapter 2

Noah was always irresponsible. The story of Lola is not where it ends. Noah proved to many people over the years that he was not someone that you could count on. He was someone who just makes mistakes over and over again.

In the fourth grade, Noah made one of these mistakes. It was another one that he would always remember, and think back to whenever he was called a screw-up, or a Lima Loser, or anything of that sort.

He was an active kid, who had just started playing football in a kid's league. Mrs. Puckerman thought that it would do him some good to play sports to exhaust some of his energy, and also so he could be around the coaches who could possible act as a father figure to Noah. You see, Mrs. Puckerman gave birth to a lovely girl named Hannah, who was now almost three years old. However, about six months after Hannah was born, Ian had run off and left them with no warning. Mrs. Puckerman was left in shambles, Hannah was left without a chance to even know her father, and Noah was left without the closest thing he would ever have to a father. So, his mom thought it would be a good idea to sign him up for some sports so he could interact with the other children, and their fathers.

Noah had noticed that ever since Ian had left them, his mother had been a lot sadder. He would try to make her happy, but nothing would work. She would still be upset. Hannah would sometimes make her giggle, and Noah loved those moments when he could see his mother smile once again.

During one of his games, Noah had made a touchdown. It was his first after playing for a month. He looked over to the stands and saw his mother, standing up, cheering, and _smiling_ for him. Since that day, he made a promise to himself to score at least one touchdown a game. If he could make his mother happy once a week, then he would consider it a success. He didn't even mind that he wasn't quarterback, even though he was their star player for sure. His mother's smiles were enough for him to play for.

There was something else that made her smile. It was a crystal dove figurine that stood on the bookshelf in the living room. Noah knew that Ian had given it to his mom for her birthday a year before he had taken off. Every time Mrs. Puckerman passed it by, or went to polish it, she would start to smile. It was a reminder of her old life, and the promises it held for her. Though Ian had run away, he had been extremely sweet one point, and that made her happy. However, it would be unrealistic to suggest that a ten year old was aware of this fact.

Noah was still best friends with Matt Rutherford. They were always up to some mischief, which would get the pair into trouble on a regular occurrence. The target had been made for their pranks. Very early on when entering the fourth grade, Noah had decided that Quinn Fabray was in some need of ruckus. She had walked into class with a yellow dress on, and a corresponding yellow headband, and sat in her seat quietly. No one was sitting in the seat next to her, and Noah had to admit that she was looking pretty… for a girl that is, and asked if he could sit next to her. She shook her head and said it couldn't be allowed. He would distract her too much from doing her homework, and continuing to receive straight A's. Noah had rolled his eyes and went back to sit beside Matt. That didn't mean he wasn't upset though, she had rejected him. He was popular, a class-clown, and a football player. She should've been asking him if she could sit with him, but instead she had turned him down. So Quinn was defiantly in the running for some clowning around directed towards her.

For instance, one day Noah had decided to switch all of Quinn's pencils from her pencil case with white crayons. That way, she wouldn't be able to write a thing. Unfortunately they had a spelling test that day and Quinn pitched a fit, claiming she was certain that it was Noah. He had been sent down to the Principal's Office and had to explain why he was so childish.

Another time he wrote Jacob Ben Israel's name surrounded in hearts on her notebook. If there was one person Quinn couldn't stand more than Noah, it was Jacob. He was creepy, breathed extremely loud, and was always trying to wrap Quinn up into a tight bear hug without even asking permission! So Quinn tattled on Puck, testifying that she was sure it was his writing, and got him detention for a week! Regardless, Noah continued to cause trouble, because Quinn scrunched up her nose when she was angry at him, and it was cute… for a girl, that was.

But there was one time when Noah went too far. This time it wasn't even planned! It happened and he was blamed for everything, and called a terrible kid, just like usual.

The fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Thompson, thought it was fun to pick partners for projects by pulling names out of a hat. So for the animal research assignment, she divided the names up into girls and boys, and placed them into two different boxes. She would pull out a girl's name, and then a boy's. There would be the partners. Long story short, Quinn Fabray and Noah Puckerman were inevitably partnered together.

During brainstorming time, Quinn pulled her chair up to Noah's desk. She had her notepad and pen out, ready to start writing. She immediately started talking, "I think we should pick an animal to research that we're both familiar with. That means that we are not doing tigers, or sharks. Maybe giraffes?"

Noah shook his head. Their necks always freaked him out when he went to visit the zoo. "What about polar bears? They're cute enough for you to like them, but they're bears so they're tough enough for me."

Quinn giggled. "I have a stuffed polar bear at home."

"So then we'll do the project on polar bears. Cool." Noah folded his hands behind his head, and started to lean back in his chair, as if it were now time to relax. Quinn was defiantly not impressed. This was not the way she did a project. There wasn't time to relax when grades were at stake! She had to take control of the situation.

"We're not going to have enough time to do this in class. Are you able to come to my house after school today to work on it?"

"All we have to do is draw a polar bear, say where it lives, and what it eats. We could finish that it five minutes."

Quinn frowned and started explaining how she was not risking her marks because he did not want to put a decent effort into the project. Noah sighed and relented. His mother wouldn't mind, she would actually probably be happy. She kept saying that he was always in her hair now, and it was much harder to deal with him when she also had to take care of Hannah.

He had never been to the Fabray's house. He had imagined it to be big, white, and have a lot of crosses in it. Noah would soon find out that he was pretty dead-on with his assumptions.

At the end of the day, Noah and Quinn walked out of the school with their backpacks. Noah had called his mom and told her that he was going to work on a project at Quinn's house, and she told him that she would pick him up at 4:30. Quinn and Noah walked over to where Mrs. Fabray was standing, waiting to bring Quinn home. She frowned, and pursed her lips when she saw Noah walking over as well. Noah remembered the Lola/Mary incident, realized that he hated Mrs. Fabray, and shot a dirty look right back.

Quinn looked up at her mother. "Noah and I were assigned as partners for a project, can he come over to work on it?" Quinn wasn't sure if her mother was even going to agree. Mrs. Fabray had recently become aware that Noah had been teasing her lately, and Quinn had heard her discussing it with her father. She couldn't hear exactly what they were saying but she defiantly remembered hearing her mother ask why the little _Jew_ couldn't just be expelled. The contempt in her mother's voice when she said the word Jew was positively evil.

Plus, Quinn didn't want Noah to be expelled from the school! He might tease her, and pull pranks on her, but her sister had told her that sometimes boys do that when they have crushes on girls. Quinn wasn't sure if Noah had a crush on her, but he was cute, and funny, so she wouldn't mind too much if he did. He was a lot sweeter when it was just the two of them, that might have something to do with why Quinn had invited him to her house to work on the project, but she would never admit that.

Quinn looked at her mother, waiting for her reaction and smiled when her mother sighed and then nodded. Mrs. Fabray led them to the car, and opened the door so they could sit in the backseat. There was silence for the ride home. Usually Quinn would have described to her mother what had happened to her at school that day, but she felt too uncomfortable to do it with Noah sitting right there to listen in.

Noah felt his hands starting to get clammy and he had no idea. It wasn't like he was nervous. Why would he be? All he was doing was going to Quinn's house. Okay, so maybe she was the prettiest girl in the class, and she smelled really nice, but they were just going to work on a project. It wasn't like she was going to let him hold her hand. She would probably tell him that only married people can do that.

Mrs. Fabray parked the car in the driveway and they got out of the car. Noah looked up at the house and gulped. It was big. It had a white picket fence, and a rose garden. It was really nice, but seemed like it belonged more in a movie than in real life. The trio made their way into the house and Mrs. Fabray told Quinn that they could work on the project in the living room.

Quinn showed the way into the living room. It was very clean, and neat. There wasn't an item out of place. Quinn started to pull their assignment out of her homework and she placed it on the wooden table. Noah sat down on the floor and put his backpack on the table. Immediately Quinn gasped.

"What do you think you're doing? You can't put that there!" Quinn hurriedly took it off of the table and placed it on the floor.

Noah had no idea what the fuss was, but just imagined that it had something to do with the compulsive neatness syndrome that seemed to hang out around the house. He shrugged and started drawing the polar bear. He thought that would be the best plan. Quinn could do the actual brainwork, and he would just draw the damn thing. He was a pretty good drawer. Quinn was probably better than him, but he had to do something and he knew that he was a better artist than a researcher, so he continued to draw the polar bear's paws.

A few minutes later, Noah finished, and held his picture up. He was satisfied. It looked pretty good. It was a girl bear, as he had drawn eyelashes on it, but it still looked tough with the scowl on its face so it was cool. Noah held it sideways to face Quinn, who busy writing about which environment polar bears live in. "It looks pretty cool, huh? And the best part is, we don't even have to colour it in!"

Quinn had to admit that it did look nice. She would have made it look cuter, but polar bears were still bears, which meant that they could be violent, so she accept that the sometimes could have a mean look on their face. She bit her lip though, and started to panic when she realized that it was true that there was no colouring needed.

"Mrs. Thompson won't think we put in as much effort as the other kids if we don't have it coloured in! You'll have to draw a baby polar bear or something!"

Noah agreed, and started back on drawing. Quinn exhaled in relief. Crisis was averted.

Noah went back to drawing a new polar bear, with the same look on its face, but this time smaller, and a boy. He was very proud of himself that he was doing so well on this project. Maybe they would even get an A! Noah would be really stoked if that happened. It would show Quinn that he was a good partner. She might even want to be his partner if they got to choose on their own next time. Usually she went with Santana and he went with Matt, but he would rather work with Quinn. She had good ideas, always smelled like flowers, and he loved the way it felt when she smiled at him when he was doing well… but she was a girl and they were disgusting so it wasn't like he _liked_ her or anything. Even though liking girls was starting to be cool, and less disgusting than it once was. Noah thought to himself and came to the conclusion that if he had to like any girl in the grade then it would have to be Quinn Fabray. It wasn't like she would like him though, he was a bad kid. But if he did well on this project then maybe she wouldn't think that way. Maybe she would _like_ him.

Noah finished and looked at Quinn. She was finished her part of the assignment as well, and he had caught her staring at him. "What are you looking at?" He asked. Quinn was caught by surprise, so she went on the defensive. "I wasn't looking at anything! Except how yellow your teeth are that is." That was a lie, she was actually thinking how cute it was that Noah had his tongue sticking out in concentration as he drew, but it wasn't like she was going to admit that.

Noah ignored the insult and instead asked, "If you're done can we go outside and play until my mom picks me up?"

Quinn nodded and she went to ask her mom. She came back with permission and they went to the front lawn. Noah opened up the garage and they went to look for something to play with. Quinn said that she wouldn't play with anything that had any risk of her getting muddy.

"I could borrow your bike and show you some tricks." Noah suggested.

Quinn smiled. Her older sister did tell her that boys _love_ to show off. "Alright, but be careful."

Noah smirked. He didn't need to be careful. He was a dude, and a tough one at that. He was the toughest ten year old in the whole fourth grade! He didn't even wear a helmet anymore.

Noah started riding around, and then stood up on the bike,, but kept pedalling. He saw Quinn, and he could tell that she was a little worried, but more importantly, she was impressed. So he continued. He popped a wheelie, and then pulled to a stop. He looked and saw a bunch of old junk by the neighbour's trash.

He walked over to the trash and started moving it around. "Stop touching that filth Noah! It's dirty!" Quinn squealed.

Noah sighed. "I'm making a ramp," He finished putting it together; "It's going to be awesome! I'll ride off of it."

Quinn immediately saw the danger in all of it. She shook her head. "You will not!"

Noah thought that Quinn was being a really big spoil-sport. Not that he didn't expect it from her, as she was a goody-two-shoes, but still, why couldn't she just let him do his trick and be impressed with him? He got back on the bike, but saw that Quinn was standing in front of the ramp.

"Move out of the way!" Noah yelled.

Quinn shook her head and stood her ground. She wasn't going to let him be an idiot and hurt himself. "You'll have to run me over Noah because I'm not moving!"

"I _will _run you over unless you move out of the way right now!"

Quinn shrugged and kept her feet planted firmly on the sidewalk. Noah groaned, but a thought came to him. Quinn was a wimp. He could just keep riding and she would move out of the way when he got close. Then he could continue on the makeshift ramp and it would be awesome! So Noah started riding the bike, but the thing was, Quinn didn't move out of the way. Which meant that Noah actually did run into Quinn with the bike. She fell down backwards, and Noah got off the bike immediately and rushed to help her. He tried lifting her up but she wouldn't take his hand.

"Go away," She cried, "You hurt me!"

He couldn't have! Quinn was too good to hurt. But she was crying and he saw that the back of her legs were scraped up and bleeding. At that moment, Noah saw Mrs. Fabray running out of the house. She must have heard all of Quinn's bawling.

Mrs. Fabray rushed to Quinn's aid. She picked her up and bent down to get to her level. "Quinn, honey, what happened?"

Quinn looked at Noah, she didn't know if she should tell because she knew that her mother would be furious. She couldn't think of a good lie up on the spot though so she had to tell the truth. "I was standing in front of the ramp so Noah couldn't hurt himself, but he ran me over!"

Mrs. Fabray looked at Noah and gave him a much disapproving look. Her eyes were full of evil. "Did your mother teach you absolutely no manners at all?"

Noah didn't want her insulting his mother. She did the best she could, and at least she didn't look like an absolute clown all the time! "I just wanted to do a trick on the bike. I'm sorry."

Mrs. Fabray rolled her eyes. "You both are going to come inside. I'll clean you up and bandage you honey, and you," She shot Noah a death stare, "Are going to be put into a time out until your mother arrives to fetch you."

Quinn's mom led them into the house. She placed a chair in front of a wall and told Noah to sit there and stare at the wall until it was time for him to leave. She led Quinn into the bathroom to wash away the blood, and put band-aids on her cuts. About ten minutes into staring at the wall, Noah heard Mrs. Fabray on the phone. He guessed she was talking to Mr. Fabray.

"He's an absolute menace! He teases her at school, and now he comes to our house and injures our daughter! What if she had broken a bone? He's nothing but a Jewish brat and I'll be damned if he doesn't get severely punished!"

Noah sighed. He had no idea what him being Jewish had to do with anything, but he knew from Mrs. Fabray's voice that it made things worse. He decided to drown out all of her talking and focus on something else. But he couldn't. He had screwed up again. He had been so good when they were working on the project, and the polar bears had looked so good, but he had to go and mess up by hurting Quinn. He couldn't believe he had hurt her. He hated seeing her cry.

It was then that he felt a tap on his shoulder. He was afraid to turn around in case it was Mrs. Fabray but he did and saw that it was in fact Quinn. He smiled. She wasn't crying anymore.

"I'm sorry my mom's mad at you." She whispered. She knew that if her mom found out that she had snuck off to talk to Noah that she would be in serious trouble. She might not be able to go to youth group on Sunday!

Noah shrugged. "I'm sorry I hurt you."

Quinn turned her right leg around and showed him her band-aids. They had designs on them. Christian designs. Crucifixes and Jesus and Mary figurines adorned them. "Pretty cool, huh?"

Noah smirked. He knew that it was incredibly lame to get excited about church or religion, but Quinn liked it, so he just nodded. "Is your mom going to get me kicked out of the school?"

Quinn nodded. "Probably. But I don't want you to go… not that I would miss _you _or anything. I'd just miss you making fun of Jacob."

Noah wished that Quinn would miss him. He didn't want to move schools. He had friends there, and he wouldn't be able to see Quinn anymore. Quinn heard her mom's footsteps so she waved goodbye and ran up the stairs to her room.

Noah heard the doorbell ring, and Mrs. Fabray went to get it. Noah was going to run and try and make his mom leave before she heard what he did, but Mrs. Fabray started tattling before he could even get off the chair! After she was done he heard his mom yell, "Noah you get you butt here this minute!"

His mom disciplined him the whole way home. She told him how he should never hurt girls and that he was going to have to go a week without dessert and cartoons because of what he had done. She asked him why he always had to pick on Quinn Fabray, but Noah didn't say anything. He just stared out the window and waiting for the lecture to be over.

The next day at school Mrs. Thompson asked for the partners to get together to finalize the last details of their assignment. Noah looked at Quinn, but saw that she was not looking at him so he moved his chair over to his desk. He saw that Jacob was breathing around Quinn's neck practically, as he had made his partner, Fiona come and sit beside Quinn even though neither of them usually sat there! Typical Jacob.

"Did you bring my picture?" Noah asked. Quinn was avoiding his gaze. She merely went through her notebook and pulled it out. She handed it to Noah, but it was now stapled to all of their other work. Everything looked so neat and organized. They were going to get an A for sure, but it didn't seem to matter anymore. Quinn wasn't even talking to him!

"What's wrong?" He poked Quinn to see if she was still alive, and she flinched so he knew that she wasn't dead.

"My mom told me that I can't talk to you anymore. She's really mad, and the school said they can't kick you out, so she told me that I have to pretend that you don't exist."

Noah wanted to punch Mrs. Fabray in the face. Why did she hate him so much? It was all an accident! He was sure that Quinn was going to move out of the way. If he wasn't, he never would've kept on pedaling. Mrs. Fabray was a mean lady. That Noah was sure of.

Quinn looked at the picture and bit her lip. "We really should've drawn a daddy polar bear. That's not a real family."

"I thought you weren't allowed to talk to me." Noah said. He didn't get girls at all.

Quinn sighed. "If my mom doesn't see us talking then I think it's okay. My sister always says, what she doesn't know can't hurt her."

Quinn was so smart, Noah thought. She always knew exactly what to do. But there was one thing that she said that confused him. "What do you mean that they aren't a real family?" He pointed to the picture.

"Families have kids, a mommy, and a daddy. There's no daddy here."

Noah started to get frustrated. This reminded him all too much of something in his life. "Well I don't have a dad! Does that mean me and my mom aren't a family?"

Quinn looked confused. She didn't know what Noah was talking about. "Everyone has a dad Noah."

Jacob turned to face them. He breathed heavily, like he usually did, and his nasally voice announced, "Noah doesn't. He's a bastard."

That was it. Noah couldn't take it. He leaped across his chair and tackled Jacob Ben Israel to the ground. He punched him in the face. Once, twice, three times, and then he felt someone pulling him up off of Jacob. It was Mrs. Thompson. She looked angrier than he had ever seen her be before. He looked at Quinn. She looked shocked. Mrs Thompson put her hands on Noah's shoulders. "What on earth did you do that for?"

"The little punk called me a bastard!" Noah shouted. Even when he said the word it hurt him inside. He had heard Ian call him it one time to his mother, and she slapped Ian so hard that he had no idea why he didn't cry. Ever since then, Noah knew that it was a terrible thing to be called.

"Well he is," Jacob meekly replied, rubbing his nose, "I didn't mean to be rude. It was just the truth."

"Both of you are going to the principal's office right now! Noah you should know not to use your fists to solve problems, and Jacob you should realize that name-calling hurts people!" Mrs. Thompson led them down the hall so that the principal could discipline them.

That one week of no dessert and cartoons quickly turned into a month when Mrs. Puckerman found out that her son had beat up a classmate. Noah had to go through an extra long lecture, where his mother explained that no matter what names he was called he could not hit anyone ever again. Noah knew he couldn't make any promises to his mother, so he just nodded along to whatever she was saying.

Three weeks later, there was another class project. Quinn hadn't spoken to him in those three weeks, even when her mother couldn't see. It upset him at first, but then he realized that she was just a gross girl and he got back to his normal self. He hung out with Matt and his other guy friends, and they played soccer at recess and stole the girls jump ropes. Anyways, when it was time for Mrs. Thompson to pick pairs, she didn't pick them out of a hat. She chose them at random. Noah was paired with Shawn Smith. They were friend, so it was fine, but Noah wondered why they didn't pick out of boxes anymore. He remembered that Quinn knew everything, so at recess one day, he went over to ask her.

She wouldn't look at him, but he didn't care. He asked anyways. "Why aren't we picking partners randomly anymore?"

Quinn looked up at him and whispered, "My mom told Mrs. Thompson she wouldn't allow it. She told her that we could never be partners again for anything. She heard about your fight, and she's still mad about the bike thing. She says you're dangerous." After she quickly told him her answer, she ran off and left Noah to ponder what she had said.

He wasn't dangerous! The bike incident was a complete accident, and Jacob had deserved to be beat up! Why was he always the bad guy in everything? Noah wanted to pull out his hair. He wanted to shout and scream, and let all of his anger out. He had screwed up… again. Now he was dangerous, so he could never be friends with Quinn. Matt had started dating Jane in their grade, so girls had become cool. Noah knew that Matt and Jane didn't go on dates, or kiss, and they were both too nervous to even hold hands, but Matt had become instantly cooler by having someone to call his girlfriend. Noah still thought girls were kind of gross, but he was always up for being cooler, and if he had to pick anyone to be his girlfriend it would be Quinn. But now that was out of the question. She was too scared to even talk to him!

Noah kicked the ground, but then he remembered what Mrs. Somerville had told him a few years ago. It was something he repeated whenever he made a big mistake. Life goes on, things will be okay. He had screwed up but tomorrow is a brand new day. Everyone makes a couple mistakes somewhere along the way. Noah repeated the mantra in his head a few times and smiled. He would make this all better. He would. He ran off to play football with Matt, Shawn, and the other boys.

_I hope you all enjoyed that chapter! I wrote it in one sitting before I went to the movies, and whew was it exhausting, but still very enjoyable to write =)_

_To clarify, this story will have incidents from Puck's childhood, but it will all lead up to the present. _

_There was a lot of Puck/Quinn little kid moments in this chapter, and they're really fun to write. _

_If you have any suggestions, let me know!_

_If you have the time, I would really appreciate it if you could leave a review. Writers love feedback =)_

_Thank you to all that reading/reviewing so far! It means a lot to me, and you guys are awesome!_

_Until next time,_

_Happy Reading_


	3. Chapter 3

Seventh grade was a whirlwind for Noah Puckerman. He made a completely idiotic mistake in the seventh grade. It was a complete accident, but mistakes always seem to find their way to Noah. However, he couldn't say seventh grade was all that bad because one of the best things that ever happened to him was in seventh grade… but he would never admit that it was one of his favourite memories or anything.

The first thing to happen was his horrible mistake. It all started when he met Finn Hudson. They started playing football together on the same team once seventh grade started and they quickly became friends. They bonded over the fact that they both did not have fathers. Noah knew early on that those were different circumstances. His dad had left because he was a dead-beat, while Finn's father had died fighting for his country. Still, they both knew what it was like to be without a dad, so when Owen Donahue on the opposing team called Finn a bastard during their first game, Noah's mind quickly raced back to fourth grade and Jacob Ben Israel, and he the next thing he knew he was on top of Owen, punching him repeatedly, with blood splayed over his friends. Ever since then, Noah and Finn had been best friends.

Finn went to a different school than Noah, but that didn't matter. They still hung out at each other's houses a lot, and they knew that they would be going to the same high school in two years. They made a pact that they would go to all the best parties, and hook up with the hottest girls once they were in high school. Noah didn't even care that Finn was the quarterback and he wasn't. Noah could admit that Finn was a better player, just like Finn could admit that Noah threw a better punch.

Little Noah had changed since he was in fourth grade. He had become a lot tougher, and grown thicker skin. More people were figuring out that he had no father, that his sister didn't either, and that meant they were both bastards. Children can be very cruel and Noah found that out quickly. In order to protect himself he had to insult the other children first. He had to beat them up first. He wasn't going to let them have a chance to make fun of him, or hit because of all that was wrong in his life. If he was always one leg up, then maybe no one would realize that it hurt his feelings. Instead, he would just be the bully.

He had noticed a change with his mother too. She had been sad for a very long while, until, when Noah was in the seventh grade, she started going out every few weekends. Noah and Hannah would sleep over at Finn's house, which Mrs. Puckerman thanked Mrs. Hudson for profusely whenever she dropped them off. His mom would pick him up the next morning, with her makeup running, and in the same clothes she had dropped them off in. Noah knew what was going on and couldn't help but be embarrassed, but Finn, even though Noah _knew_ that he knew, never mentioned it once. Noah was beyond thankful for that. Plus, if it made his mother happy, he supposed that he didn't mind. It was better than her crying all the time.

Noah had also become what he referred to himself as "a stud". Okay, well he only had two girlfriends, but he had done more with them than any other boys in the grade had done with four or five girlfriends. He had dated Shannon Welles in the sixth grade, and Matt Rutherford, who Noah was still friends with, but they weren't as close, had just kissed a girl. He told Noah that it only lasted about three seconds, but it was amazing. Noah couldn't be left out so he made it his mission to kiss a girl as well. He asked Shannon to be his girlfriend, she said yes and although they didn't go out to dates as they were much too young, they did kiss five times in the back field during the whole month they had gone out.

His second girlfriend was Olivia Buckley. They started dating at the beginning of the seventh grade. She was as dumb as a box of rocks but she was the second prettiest girl in their grade. The first prettiest girl will appear late on in our story. Olivia and Noah went out for a full 3 months. During that time Noah had learned what "French-kissing" actually meant, as Olivia had learned it from an eighth-grade boy at summer camp.

Noah encouraged Finn to get a girlfriend, because kissing was the best thing in the whole world. Finn told him that he became nervous whenever he tried talking to girls, especially if they were pretty. Noah had in turn told him that he had to stop being a wuss and start dating girls or people would start calling him gay. Finn already was upset at the kids that called him stupid, so he had gone out with Jacqueline Mackenzie for three weeks. They kissed a total of 2 times before Jacqueline told him that he had bad breath, and they broke up.

There was one girl that Noah would love to be his girlfriend, but it was only a fantasy. She hadn't talked to him in three years, ever since her mother told her that he was dangerous. They had never been in the same class since, which Noah had known was due to her mother's meddling, and she always made sure to avoid him. Noah always shrugged it off though and told himself that it was better off that way. Quinn Fabray would probably be too afraid to hug him, let alone kiss him.

Anyways, in October at the start of grade seven, Mrs. Hudson had dropped Finn off at the Puckerman's house as she had to work and the boys had a football game that day. Noah's mother was going to drive both boys to the game, and then back to their house until Finn's mom could pick them up. Mrs. Puckerman had made both boys get dressed into their football uniforms an hour before they were supposed to leave for their game. She was busy playing with Hannah, and Noah and Finn became bored fast.

"What do you want to do? I'm not sitting on the couch for a whole hour!" Noah complained. Finn shrugged and looked outside. "Want to sit on our heads outside and see how long it takes the blood to rush to our heads?"

Noah smacked his palm on his face. "We did that yesterday. I'm serious Finn, what do you want to do?"

Finn got up and picked up the football underneath the living room table. He held it up. "Want to throw it around? Maybe I can show you a thing or too."

Noah stood up. "You think you're hot stuff just because you're the quarterback, don't you?" Finn nodded, he wasn't going to deny it. "You think you're hut stuff just because you've French kissed a girl, don't you?"

Noah smirked. It was true. They laughed and started throwing the football around. After a few minutes, Noah became bored of their casual game of catch, so he started throwing the ball harder and harder. Finn smirked and he too started chucking the ball across the room. They were laughing, and having fun like children do. But, when Noah was getting ready to throw the football extremely hard, he forgot to aim it straight, and what happened next was a catastrophe of epic proportions.

The football hit the top of the bookshelf. The top of the bookshelf that held the crystal dove figurine that Ian had given his mother years ago. The crystal dove figurine that was the only thing that could make his mother happy for the longest time. Noah knew that he was in for the most serious trouble of his life. You see, maybe it had been almost 6 years since Ian had left them, and Noah's mother had been acting happier lately, but Noah would still catch his mom staring at the dove every so often. When she was polishing she spent extra time and was extra careful with it. He was only twelve years old, going on thirteen, but even he knew how important that crystal dove was to his mother.

He finally felt the feeling in his legs so he started walking towards it. He bent down and picked up two large pieces of the dove that had shattered. He frantically tried to figure out how to put it all together. Maybe it would work if he found some super glue.

"Dude, it was just a bird. What are you worrying about?" Finn asked as he stood behind Noah's shoulder.

Noah turned his head around to look at Finn. "If my mom sees what I did she'll kill me! And then she'll kill you so there aren't any witnesses!"

Finn, as gullible as ever, gulped and bent down so that he could help Noah try to reassemble the figurine. Their plan to secretly fix the dove was ruined though when Mrs. Puckerman walked into the living room.

"What was that crash boys-" She couldn't even finish her sentence when she saw what had happened. She blinked, rubbed her eyes, and shook her head. She couldn't be seeing right. This couldn't be happening. Sure, Noah was careless and fooled around, but he would never be so foolish to have broken her crystal dove figurine. The one memory she had of Ian. Her true love. The one she had known for years, who had told her to leave Noah's father before it was too late, but still supported her when she didn't and she became pregnant with her son. Noah's father had run but Ian had stayed with her, as a friend. And later, three years down the line, it had turned into something more. They married, and he was a great step-father. Sure, once she became pregnant with Hannah they started fighting a lot and yes he had run like Noah's father had, but Mrs. Puckerman was sure that he was going to come back one day, with an explanation and an apology. Until that day, she had the dove. She was fine with the crystal dove.

But the dove lay before her, shattered on the ground. It had to be in at least 30 different pieces. She wanted to cry. She couldn't though, because she was so angry. So she yelled. Her face became beet-red and she screamed at Noah until he ran outside, and Finn followed.

Noah felt terrible for what he had done. It was all an accident and he didn't know how his mother didn't know that! He was trying to fix it! She just didn't understand. They won their game later that day but it didn't matter. His mom didn't smile when he scored any touchdowns, and she didn't congratulate him when they were driving home. Noah knew that he had screwed up big this time.

That night, after Mrs. Hudson had picked Finn up, Mrs. Puckerman retreated to her bedroom and did not come out. Noah laid in his bed and stared up at the ceiling, letting his guilt overpower him. All of a sudden he thought he heard something in his mother's room. He listened closer. It was whimpering. Then it turned into soft crying, and finally Noah heard his mom bawling. He felt like the worst son in the entire world. He punched his pillow, and kicked his bed. Why did he have to ruin everything? It was like nothing ever went his way! Even if sixth grade, when they had individual pet fish for their science projects, his was the only one that died! It was like the universe was stacked against him.

So Noah did what he always did when things were crashing down on him, and he felt like he was worth less than spit. This time he picked up his guitar, which he had been learning since Finn played drums and Noah couldn't let him be the only one good at _everything_, and started singing, "Oh, life goes on. Things will be okay. Though the dove is gone, tomorrow is a brand new day. Everyone makes a couple mistakes, somewhere along the way."

Noah's mother slowly started to forgive him. It wasn't an easy task. She spent a lot of weekends in a row out, and Noah and Hannah were sent over to the Hudson's each time to stay over. After about 7 weeks though, she started to come around. Noah had come home with a math test which he had received an A- on, and he was super proud of himself. He showed it to his mom, and expected a monotone response like he had become accustomed to, but was surprised when she excitedly pulled him into a hug and said, "Oh Noah I'm so proud! I love you honey."

Christmas Season had sprung upon the town of Lima, and the school's Christmas Dance was being held. Noah knew that it meant the awkward task of asking girls to slow dance, which he was not good at, and listening to cheesy music, or at least that's what the older boys on his football team had told him. This was the first real dance that Noah was going to attend. They all got a free bag of chips and a can of soda out of it though, so Noah thought it would be alright.

They were all told to dress in red, green, or white for the dance. Noah showed up in an itchy green sweater that his mother practically had to force him into. The dance was scheduled for after lunch, and as it drew closer and closer, he noticed the girls stroking their hair and reapplying cherry chapstick frequently. Matt, who was still his school best friend, just not his _best_ friend anymore, leaned over right before lunch and asked, "Who are you going to ask to dance?"

Noah shrugged. "I'm such a stud I thought that maybe I would ust wait for the girls to ask me."

Matt's mouth hung open like Noah had just suggested that he was going to fly through the classroom with his underwear over his pants. "What?' Noah defensively asked.

"Girls don't ask boys to dance. They _get_ asked. Trust me; if you wait for a girl to ask you, then you're going to be standing by the wall the whole time."

The words rang through Noah's mind all throughout lunch and recess. If he became a wall flower than his popularity would plummet. He would have to ask at least one girl to dance. But who? He was starting to get nervous. What if someone said no? Noah knew that he wasn't good with rejection.

At recess Noah heard Jacob talking to Matt. "I'm going to kiss Quinn Fabray today. Mark my words."

Noah turned around and scoffed. "Likely story."

Jacob smirked. "Laugh now, but it is going to happen. I have a plan. I'll ask her to dance. We'll sway to the beat, and right before the song ends, I'll swoop down and plant one on her angelic lips."

Noah wanted to punch Jacob in the face. Quinn was too good for him. She deserved the best. Jacob certainly wasn't the best. Noah controlled his anger however, and the bell rang. The dance was about to begin.

The dance was a little less than halfway through. Noah was satisfied, he had danced with a girl once. He had danced with Olivia who had told him that he could put his hands as low as he wanted, but Mrs. Fabray, who had volunteered to chaperone, had been staring at him the whole time, so he had made sure to keep his hands at a responsible, God-fearing level.

A fast song was now playing and Noah wasn't going to 'bust a move' on the dance floor so he thought it was a good time to grab a bag of chips and his soda. He walked over to the section of the gymnasium that was for eating and grabbed his chips and pop and looked for a place to sit. The only available spot he saw that wasn't beside Jacob Ben Israel was beside Quinn. He smiled, walked over, and sat down.

Quinn looked to her side and was surprised when she saw Noah sitting down beside her. They hadn't spoken since the fourth grade. He had grown taller and matured into quite a cute boy… but she wasn't going to ever tell anyone that. Not even when all her friends were gossiping about how he was defiantly the cutest boy in the grade by far. Her mother and father reminded her time and time again that he was bad news. He was dangerous, and she shouldn't even talk to him, or God would be mad at her. Her parents also told her never to be rude though so she felt she needed to at least say something.

"Hey." She said it softly, and Noah couldn't hear her over the music. "What?" He yelled. Quinn smiled and yelled, "I said hi."

Noah nodded. "Why aren't you dancing with all your friends?"

Quinn shrugged her shoulders. "They've all danced with boys already. If I go over with them they'll just tease me that I haven't."

She had gone back to speaking softly so Noah had moved in closer to hear her better. She was looking straight ahead, and he was looking at her. His face close to her ear, so she could hear him.

"Why haven't you?" Noah knew that if Quinn Fabray asked any boy to dance that every single one would say yes.

Quinn looked uncomfortable. She turned her head and looked Noah in the eye. "No one has asked me." She seemed embarrassed at admitting it.

Noah smirked. "They're probably just afraid that you'd say no." Quinn had been known to be an ice queen of sorts.

Quinn shook her head. "I wouldn't. My mom told me that I had to dance with anyone that asked. She says it's the polite thing to do, since it takes a lot of courage to ask someone. WelL she said I had to say yes to everyone…except you."

Noah took offence to the comment. He remembered how much he hated Mrs. Fabray. He wished that she was a twelve year old boy so that he could punch her in the face, or trip her down the stairs, or something.

Noah noticed that a slow song was now playing. Pairs of the grade sevens and eights were starting to make their way to the middle of the gym to sway to the music. He looked up and saw that Jacob was making his way towards Quinn. Noah knew what was going to happen. He had to stop it. He had to save Quinn.

"Dance with me." He said. It wasn't a question. Quinn raised her eyebrows. "I told you, I can't."

Noah motioned to where Jacob was coming closer. "If you don't dance with me then Jacobs going to ask you and you'll have to say yes. He's planning on kissing you when the song ends."

Quinn looked disgusted, but she quickly saw the flaw the Noah's plan. "My mother will see us. She'll yell at me in front of everyone."

Noah shook his head. He knew a little bit about stuck up mothers from a few players on the football team, and their moms. "No, she won't. She won't want to make a scene or whatever. Dance with me."

He stood up and held his hand, waiting for her to take it. Quinn looked and saw that she had to make her decision fast as Jacob was only inches from her. She knew what she had to do. She placed her hand in Noah's, and let him lead her to the middle of the dance floor.

He put his arms around her waist, making sure they didn't go too low, as he didn't want to upset her. He didn't have to be a ladies man when he was dancing with Quinn. Dancing with her when no one else had meant enough. She wrapped her arms around his neck, he was thankful for his recent growth spurt or else things would have been awkward, and they started to sway to the music.

_You're Beautiful _by James Blunt was playing. It was a popular song that was always on the radio, and Noah smiled knowing that this would be their first dance together. Not that he expected other dances; he knew that he was lucky getting this one. He just thought it was nice they were dancing to this song together.

Quinn had her eyes shut. She knew that there were some moments in life that pass by too quickly and she didn't want this one to be like that. She had actually prayed to God to dance with Noah last night, but she didn't think it was going to happen. She didn't think her mother would allow it, and she didn't think that he would ask. But he had, even if it had only been to save her from Jacob, and this moment was perfect. She breathed in and smelt cinnamon, the scent she always associated with him, and smiled.

Noah looked down and saw that Quinn had her eyes closed. He smiled. It had to have been one of the cutest things he had ever seen… not that he was going to tell anyone that. He looked up and then he gulped. Mrs. Fabray was giving him the death stare. He could just imagine that she was thinking of all the ways she could kill him in the next ten minutes without anyone finding out. He smiled at her. He knew that would tick her off, and really, after all she had done to him throughout the years, he thought she deserved it.

After that smile he put all thoughts of Mrs. Fabray out of his mind and focused on Quinn. He knew soon the dance would be over and they would go their separate ways, maybe not speaking for another three years. **No.** He couldn't let that happen. He wasn't letting her go after this one dance. He needed to prove to her that he liked her. So Noah leaned his head down until his mouth was by her ear, and he whispered, "Do you want to sneak out of here? Just for a few minutes, I promise."

Quinn opened her eyes and saw how close Noah was. She knew that she should tell him no. She should have told him that she would get in trouble. But he smelt really nice, and he was so close, and he had been so nice saving her from Jacob, so she nodded her head. She didn't bother asking how they would sneak away from her mother, because she knew Noah would think of some way.

They swerved in and out of other dancing couples, so that Mrs. Fabray would lose sight of them. They inched their way out of the gym doors and Noah led her to the side of the doors. Quinn leaned against the wall. Noah stood in front of her.

"I missed talking to you Noah." She smiled, hoping that he wouldn't tease her for revealing one of her secrets.

He didn't. He just nodded, leaned his arm across so that it was touching the wall, and blocking Quinn's left. He stepped closer to her, and leaned down until their lips were inches from each other's. He opened his eyes and saw that hers were closed, waiting for him to kiss her, to be her first kiss. He smiled, and closed the gap between them. He didn't put any pressure on her lips, and he didn't even think about putting his tongue in her mouth. He treated her like the delicate angel she was. This was her first kiss, and he was going to make sure she remembered it as being a good one. So he kissed her lightly, and gently.

**"What the hell do you think you're doing!" **

Noah and Quinn both gulped. They recognized the voice and knew that they were in for trouble.

Mrs. Fabray's face was as red as a tomato. She looked like she had gone insane. "I told you to stay away from him Quinn! He's the only one I told you to stay away from and you disobey me! Go wait out in the car, I'll make sure your teacher knows you're leaving!"

Quinn was crying. The moment had been perfect. It was her first kiss, and Noah had been so sweet. But her mom had to ruin everything and embarrass her terribly. She whimpered as she started walking away.

Noah took a step, assuming he was supposed to go back inside, but Mrs. Fabray blocked his way. "You," She sneered, "Stay away from my daughter! She's smart, and beautiful, and going to be a head cheerleader, and she doesn't need people like you ruining it all!"

"People like me?" Noah hadn't meant to say it out loud, but it just slipped out. He wished he hadn't, for the vile that spewed out of Mrs. Fabray's mouth was enough to make him want to punch the wall.

"People like _you_. You're a bastard, a brat, a Jew, and a disrespectful pig! You're everything my daughter has to stay away from! If you so much as look at her again I will let my husband, who is by the way a member of the NRA, deal with you next time."

Mrs. Fabray walked back to the gym to tell the teachers that she was leaving with Quinn, and Noah slumped against the wall. But then he saw Quinn, peeking out behind the walls that led to the entrance of the parking lot.

She was still crying. She mouthed the word, 'Sorry'. Noah brushed the air with his hand. It wasn't Quinn's fault. She was perfect. It was her overprotective parents that were the problem. He didn't want to do anything like _that _with Quinn. She was too much of an angel, and he would never forgive himself for pressuring her into anything. If he could date Quinn Fabray all he would do is give her kisses like he had minutes before. Well… unless she wanted to do more, but he still would probably make her wait a day to decide, so he knew she was absolutely sure.

Yes, if Mr. and Mrs. Fabray had not been so overprotective and mean to Noah Puckerman and if they had let Quinn and Noah have a childhood romance, Noah would honestly have never had sex with her. They would have held hands, and hugged, and kissed on occasion, but they would have broken up shortly like all childhood couples do. However, Mr and Mrs Fabray were _too_ protective, and that made things a whole different story. However, that is a story for another time.

The doors to the gym opened and Noah saw Quinn run to the car. Mrs. Fabray took one last look at him, scoffed and walked out of the school. Noah walked back into the gym, and didn't dance with another girl. He wasn't in the mood.

So grade seven had its up and downs for Noah Puckerman. He had made his mistakes, and he still remembered them to this day. But in grade seven Noah also kissed Quinn Fabray and that was something that he would never, _ever _forget.

_Wow so I wasn't planning on finishing tonight but I couldn't stop writing! I hope you all enjoyed that chapter. I think it was the most fun for me to write! =) _

_Thank you to all that reviewing and reading! You guys are amazing, and great motivators! I'm so glad so many of you like this story so far!_

_If you have the time, I would really appreciate if you could leave a review, just telling me if you like the story or not. Writers take great time to produce stories and feedback is always nice =)_

_Until next time,_

_Happy Reading_


	4. Chapter 4

Noah Puckerman made mistakes. It was a fact of life. He would do stupid things time and time again. Just the past summer before he entered the eighth grade he killed a squirrel when he was throwing rocks at his neighbour's gate (she totally deserved it – she was old and told him that he had to stop yelling _all the time_). Hannah had been watching and she started crying. Their mom had come out and tried to calm Hannah down. The only way that could be done is by having a funeral for the squirrel. Afterwards, their neighbour had yelled at Noah for burying the squirrel too close to her side of the property.

He never could do much right. He was in the eighth grade, and only fourteen years old but he understood that he had made more mistakes in his life than he should have.

But grade eight had been a change to the formula. He had actually tried in school, and was getting all C's and even a few B's. He had made the most touch downs out of everyone on the football team. He had started mowing lawns in the warmer weather, and shovelling snow in the winter for extra money. He was being responsible, and a son that his mother could be proud of. She was actually telling him that she was proud of him on a regular basis. Noah wasn't going to admit it, but hearing her say it meant a lot to him. It made him feel less of a Lima Loser.

Noah had also started to date Olivia Buckley once more. It felt like _real _dating this time as well. They hung out at each other's houses, and Olivia had even let Noah get to second base. To be honest, Noah had felt guilty when he did it. He was a stud, and a teenage boy, so it wasn't like he didn't _want_ to do it. It was just that he wasn't sure if he wanted to do it with Olivia. He knew that if he could have anyone in the world as his girlfriend it would be Quinn, but she hadn't talked to him in almost a year, since the dance. How was Noah supposed to wait for a girl who was forbidden to talk to him? He wasn't. So, even if Noah felt at fault when he started things up again with Olivia, he pushed those thoughts out of his head. He kept telling himself that as a ladies man he was expected to do these sorts of things.

One day however, all of the effort and work that Noah had put into the year was washed away. He made a mistake, one of those big mistakes, where time seemed to stand still, and seconds seemed like hours because he just didn't want to come back to the horror of reality.

It all started when Finn came over to hang out with Noah one Friday afternoon. They were throwing around the football in the backyard while Mrs. Puckerman and Hannah had gone to the park to play.

"Why do we always have to do the same exact thing? Lima's so boring. Everyone in this town is so boring." Noah dropped the football and plopped down on the ground. Finn joined him, laying on his back, facing the sky. "I wish we lived somewhere cool, like Florida. We could go to Disney World every day!"

Noah rolled his eyes. Sure, he was best friends with Finn, but the guy had rocks for brains. "Let's do something cool! Something like those guys do in the _Jackass_ movies!"

Finn gulped. He didn't want to be called a chicken, but he knew that he wasn't one that was all for risk-taking and excitement. "What do you have in mind?"

Noah shrugged. He hadn't thought of any specific ideas, all he knew was that Lima, Ohio was one of the most boring towns in the entire United States of America. He needed to do something that was exciting. His whole life had been full of the same mundane activities. He was a teenage boy. He needed to do something stupid, but exciting. It was in his blood to try and seek out these opportunities.

"Why don't we climb up on the roof, and jump off into Hannah's kiddie pool?" It was the first thing that Noah could think of that sounded plausible, but also something that qualify as an adrenaline rush.

Finn looked up to the roof, and back down to the pool. It was a high jump. Finn thought of the time he had broken his arm by simply tripping and landing on it the wrong way. He suspected that he would come out a lot worse by jumping off of the roof. His mom would probably yell at him, and call him dumb. Then she would lecture him. Finn hated mom lectures. They were the worst. This was another thing that Noah and Finn frequently bonded over.

"Dude we could break our necks! Don't be an idiot."

Noah rolled his eyes. "You are such a pansy!" The truth was, Noah would be far too afraid to jump off of the roof as well, but he had to make sure that Finn looked like the wimp in the situation. It was a rule Noah lived by: Insult them before they can insult you.

Finn immediately became offended. "I'm not a pansy! I'll do anything else, just not anything that risks me not being able to play football for the high school team in the fall."

This was something Noah and Finn had discussed previously. Along with making a pact to attend the coolest parties, and hook-up with the hottest girls, they had also promised each other that they would both make the football team. They knew that they were mutually good at the game and if they tried hard and worked out in the summer, they might be able to make the team – even if they were sitting on the bench.

Noah started thinking of something that was less life-threatening, but still exciting. He looked to his right and saw his mom's car parked on the side of the road. He grinned.

"Want to take a joy ride?" He motioned towards the car.

"You don't know how to drive, and you don't have the keys." Finn was hoping that he still didn't sound as terrified as he actually was.

Noah smirked. "Her keys are inside. I can get them no problem. And I know the basics of driving, and I've played _Grand Theft Auto_ a bunch. It'll be easy. We won't go on the highway or anything stupid. Just a ride around the block."

Finn sighed. There was point in arguing. Plus, a ride around the block didn't seem to scary. It actually seemed a little bit fun. So Finn nodded and Noah ran inside to grab the keys from the kitchen table. He came back outside and the two boys walked to the car. Noah unlocked the doors and the boys entered the car. Noah at the wheel, and Finn riding shotgun.

Driving isn't as easy as it is in videogames though. Noah thought he had the hang of it at first, but soon after they were on the road, Noah swerved the car. Finn started screaming like a little girl, which Noah would never tell anyone because best friends don't embarrass one another, and Noah closed his eyes. He was scared for his life. He felt the impact of the crash. The airbags came out. Noah and Finn were both fine, but they were in shock. They opened their eyes. They had hit a fire hydrant.

Finn hit Noah's arm. "Are you an idiot? Look at what you did! Your mom is going to kill us!"

Noah didn't even comprehend what Finn was saying. He just stared out at the wreck and wished that he was dead. His mom was going to kill him. He got out of the car and went to the front to see how much damage had been done. He winced. The front of the car was completely smashed in. He started to fright. Finn had also walked over to the front of the car. He gulped. He knew that it was bad. Noah was in alarm.

"What am I going to do? My mom grounded me for a month in grade four when I punched some guy, she'll send me off to military school for this! Or she'll make me quit school and get a job to pay for it all!"

Finn tried to calm his friend down. "Calm down. We'll figure something out. Doesn't your mom have, what's the word, insurance or something?"

Noah's face brightened and he breathed a sigh of relief. Everything was going to be alright. Everything was going to be fine. But then Noah looked and saw that everything was most certainly not going to be fine. His mom was across the street, walking back from the park with Hannah, and she saw the wreck. She looked more mad than Noah had ever seen her. She was more angry then when he had beat up Jacob, or ran into Quinn with his bike, or when he had lost his cousin in the mall two summers ago. She was even more mad than the time he had broken the crystal dove. He gulped as she ran towards him.

"Tell me that I'm dreaming," She bellowed, "Noah, tell me what the hell happened! Why is my car wrecked?"

Noah squirmed. "Me and Finn were bored… and we just wanted to have fun so-" Mrs. Puckerman interjected and started yelling again, "So you decided to drive my car? You're fourteen! Why the hell are you such an idiot? What the fuck am I supposed to do? Why…why…" Her voice trailed off, and she started crying. She sunk to the ground and kneeled down. She had no idea what she was going to do. She didn't even want to think how much money it was going to cost to fix everything. Hannah kneeled down next to her mom and gave her a hug.

Noah wanted to cry as well. He was so frustrated. Finn was standing right there though so he couldn't without the fear that his friend would later tease him and call him a wimp. He just rubbed his eyes with his hands to try and make sure the tears wouldn't come out. He took a deep breath. "Don't worry mom, you have insurance! They'll pay for this!"

His mom looked up at him like he had five eyes. "Are you an idiot Noah? They don't pay for accidents your kid caused! They'll say I should've been watching you! Oh my gosh, you're so lucky you didn't kill anyone! This is going to cost me a fortune! What were you thinking?"

Noah didn't know what to say. Looking back on it, he wasn't thinking. He was bored, and he just wanted to have fun. He had been careless and had never thought how stupid driving his mom's car was. He just thought it was a fun idea. He muttered, "Mom I'm sorry."

Mrs. Puckerman stood up and gave Noah the dirtiest look he had ever seen her give anyone in his life. "You're _sorry_? You think that will fix everything? You are going to be in so much trouble Noah that you'll wish you were dead!"

The yelling continued. Noah didn't mind. He deserved it. He had been such a complete moron. Mrs. Puckerman had called Mrs. Hudson to pick up Finn, and she called a tow truck. Once Noah, Hannah, and their mom got home, she stopped yelling. She just curled up on the couch and cried. She didn't make dinner. Noah made peanut butter sandwiches for Hannah and himself.

At around six o' clock he saw his mom fumbling with a calculator. He walked over. He wanted to apologize once more. He had gotten all the money he had left from his yard work business. It was $89. He just wanted his mom to hug him and say that everything would be okay.

He put the money on the table in front of her. "I'm so sorry mom."

She looked at Noah and her eyes were puffy, and her face was red. She sniffed. "I'm going to have work overtime for months to pay for this Noah! Hannah's not going to be able to sign up for ballet lessons anymore! I'm going to have to dip in the little savings that we still have! Why would you do something so stupid Noah? Why? I raised you better, didn't I?"

Noah immediately nodded. He didn't want his mother to blame herself. "It was a complete accident! We just wanted to have some fun. Please don't be mad mom! I'll figure something out… I'll mow more lawns this summer. I'll clean pools! I'll do anything just please… don't give up on me."

Mrs. Puckerman burst into tears again. "I always thought you were a good kid Noah. I didn't listen to any of them when they were telling me you were a screw-up. I stood up for to everyone! To Mrs. Fabray, to Olivia's mom, to all your teachers over the years, _everyone_! But maybe they were right… I just don't know how you could have done something so dumb. And Noah, I can't deal with this anymore. I've had to deal with you all by myself over the years and I'm at my wit's end. I seriously feel like I'm going to die from all this stress. I… oh never mind, please Noah just go to your room and don't come out for the rest of the night."

Noah complied. He went into his room and crashed onto his bed. He started crying. He didn't care that he was a boy, or that he was supposed to be tough, and a stud. He needed to cry. His mother hated him, and she deserved to. He had screwed up big. He hated himself. He started punching his pillows. He pinched himself in the arm. He slapped himself across the face. He deserved to feel pain because he had made such a big mistake.

Then he brought out his guitar. He did what he always did. He sang Mrs. Somerville's mantra and tried to feel better. "Oh, life goes on. Things will be okay. Though the car is gone, tomorrow is a brand new day. Everyone makes a couple mistakes, somewhere along the way."

It didn't make him feel better this time though; he knew that things weren't going to be better in the morning. His mom was still going to be furious at him.

And he was right – well partially. She wasn't more so mad, as heartbroken. She didn't yell, but she cried a lot, and he knew that it was because of him. He understood that it wasn't only the car, but it was the fact that his mother had realized that everyone else had been right about him. He was a brat. He was a bad kid, and there was nothing she could do about it. She didn't hug him anymore, or tell him that she loved him. She spent every Friday _and_ Saturday out, which meant that Hannah and Noah had to stay at Finn's, and Noah realized that Mrs. Hudson was also disappointed in him. She must've realized just how bad of an influence he was on Finn, or something.

He just wanted to feel better about himself. He wanted to feel like someone cared about him. He was tired of feeling so unwanted at home. He knew what his mom did to feel better. He knew that's why he had to spend every weekend at Finn's. So he decided that maybe he should give it a shot.

He brought Olivia over to his house one Wednesday afternoon. Hannah was at her afterschool program, while his mom was still at work. They had the house to themselves. Olivia wasn't planning on doing anything but making out with Noah, but it became clear, when they are on his bed, and his hands started going to the zipper of her jeans, that Noah had different plans in mind.

"Noah," Olivia whispered, "I don't think I'm ready for that."

Noah looked at her, and his eyes were pleading. "Please." They way he had said it, so hurt and sad, Olivia couldn't say no. She wanted to make him feel better, and if sex was going to do it then she figured it would be alright. It wasn't like she had been saving herself for marriage or anything. Plus, it would be much better to lose her virginity because she was trying to help her boyfriend, then because she got drunk at a party.

It was awkward. Neither one knew exactly what they were doing. It was also over fast. When it was, Noah didn't know why he thought it would help. It didn't. All he wanted was to feel like someone cared about him, but he didn't feel that at all. He put his pants back on and got out of the bed. He started putting his shirt back on.

"What are you doing," Olivia asked, "In TV shows they always cuddle afterwards. That's the cute part."

Noah snorted. He'd be damned if he was going to cuddle with her. That sounded lame. Plus, it sounded like something gentlemen did. He had it imprinted in his brain from countless people, his mom, Mrs. Fabray, the list went on, that he was no gentleman.

"We're not cuddling Olivia."

Olivia started to worry that she had lost her virginity for nothing. "Why? Why can't we? We just had sex for crying out loud! We love each other, so what's the big deal?"

Noah looked at Olivia like she was crazy. How did she expect him to love her? He didn't love anyone. He knew from experience that the people he loved, or cared about would walk out of his life, or give up on him. His dad had before he was even born. His mom had. Ian had. A certain blonde classmate of his also had, but Noah was in no mood to think about her at a time like this. "I don't love you Olivia. I think you should go home."

Olivia started to feel embarrassed. She quickly became self conscious and was very aware of the fact that she was naked. She hurriedly got dressed and ran out of the house crying, and slamming the front door behind her.

The next day at school Olivia broke up with Noah. She did it at recess, and told him that she just didn't feel right about what they had done. Noah became embarrassed. He was a stud. Girls shouldn't break up with him. He should be the one dumping the girl!

He was so humiliated that he felt he needed to get back at Olivia. So he said – loud enough for everyone around them to hear, "What, we have sex and then you break up with me? Well fine, you weren't that good anyways."

People instantly started to whisper and gossip. Olivia ran away crying. She couldn't believe that he had yelled out their secret for the world to hear. She was afraid that she would be labelled a slut. Noah didn't care. He had enough on his mind, and he couldn't bear to start caring about Olivia's feelings at the moment.

Everyone in the grade knew by the end of the day. When Noah walked out of the school to go home, he felt someone tapping his shoulder. He turned around. It was Quinn Fabray. He smiled. He couldn't help it, but he realized what he had done, so he tried to remain cool and turned the smile into a smirk. "What's up?"

Quinn smiled sweetly. "I think you should come to my youth group on Sunday at the church."

Noah wanted to burst out laughing, but he didn't because he didn't want Quinn to feel bad. Maybe he didn't care if Olivia felt bad, but Quinn was different. He would never want to hurt her. "Why should I?"

Quinn started to whisper. "I heard about what happened with you and Olivia. That's a _sin_ Noah! It's alright though, God can forgive you. I thought maybe you would want help seeking forgiveness. My youth group can defiantly help with that."

Noah smirked. "Did your mom forget o give you your daily reminder Quinn? I'm Jewish."

Quinn pretended to act like she didn't know what he was talking about, even though she knew full well. Coincidentally her mother had just made a snide comment about Noah and his religious roots a couple of days ago. She shrugged her shoulders. "It doesn't matter. No one cares if you're Jewish. _I_ don't care if you're Jewish. Just… will you come?"

Noah knew that he wasn't going to be caught dead trying to seek forgiveness for his sins. The guys had all given him props and his popularity had taken a massive peak that day, since he was the first boy in the grade to lose his virginity. He didn't want to say that to Quinn though so he just replied, "I'll think about it."

Quinn smiled and waved goodbye. She went over to where her mother was waiting for her. Noah wasn't trying to eavesdrop, but Mrs. Fabray was just too damn loud! He heard her ask Quinn why she was talking to him, and he started to hear Quinn tell her mother about his little tryst with Olivia yesterday. Mrs. Fabray looked at him, gave him one of her signature dirty looks, and rushed Quinn to their car.

Two days later, before school started, and all the children were waiting in front of the school, Quinn came over to Noah. "Guess what my parents gave me yesterday?"

Noah smiled. He always felt better talking to Quinn. His life started to seem right when he was, even if it was just for a few minutes. He shrugged his shoulders. "What?"

Quinn held up her left hand, and pointed to a ring on her finger. It was silver, and had little diamonds on it.

"They gave you an engagement ring? Isn't that illegal?" Quinn playfully slapped Noah on the arm and shook her head. "It's not an engagement ring Noah! It's a promise ring! Last night they talked to me, and I made a promise to God not to have sex before marriage, so they gave me a ring to support me! Isn't it pretty?"

Noah nodded to make Quinn feel better, but he couldn't help finding the humour in the whole situation. It was obvious what had happened. Mr. and Mrs. Fabray knew that Noah was now having sex, and they seemed to think that Quinn might want to have sex _with_ him, so they made her promise to not have sex with anyone before marriage. Noah couldn't help but feel a little smug that her parents thought he had a real chance at having sex with their perfect daughter. It boosted his ego and Noah realized something. If he could have sex with Quinn – he could have sex with anyone!

School soon ended and summer began. Mrs. Puckerman was still devastated with what had happened. She hugged him once at graduation, and then immediately went back to her old ways. Throughout the summer she stayed out more and more, but she no longer made her children stay at the Hudson's. She let Noah babysit Hannah instead. It was better for Noah though, as he still felt like he was worthless, and it was much easier to have sex with girls when his mother was out, and he was home alone with Hannah who went to sleep a 8 o' clock each night.

Yes, in the summer Noah engaged in romances with two girls. One was a year younger than him, and lived on his street. She was insecure and more than happy to have sex with Noah, as a way to feel better about herself. She, like Noah, needed to feel wanted. The other girl was Elena, a girl that had been in Noah's eighth grade class. She had been friends with Olivia, but they had a falling out, and Noah was away of getting back at Noah.

Both girls didn't love him, or care for him, and that made Noah feel even more worthless. You see, maybe he was using the girls, but they were using him back, and that hurt. But Noah had reached the point of no return. He was now a player, and a jerk. All he was looking forward to was grade nine. High school would be awesome. Finn would be there with him, and together they would go to parties, hook up with even hotter girls, and play on the football team. It was going to be good.

_I hope you all liked that chapter. There wasn't much Puck/Quinn, but this chapter was needed so that it could be seen why Noah is such a man whore. _

_The next chapter will have some Puck/ Quinn though, and we will also learn how our lead character went from being Noah, to being Puck. _

_If you could I would really appreciate you leaving a review telling e how you liked the chapter. Writers put great care into writing their stories, and feedback is always appreciated! =)_

_Thank you to all that reading/reviewing/favouriting/etc. so far! I really do appreciate it. You guys are so awesome! _

_Until next time,_

_Happy Reading_


	5. Chapter 5

Grade nine was a great year for Noah Puckerman. He entered high school, and was happy to learn that his best friend Finn was in two of his classes. They sat together, behind the two hottest girls in the class, and made plans to hook up with them. Noah achieved his goal, and made it to third base with Alisha Thoms within a month. Finn tried hard to become a stud like his best friend was, and was eternally grateful that Noah always tried to help him achieve said status, but he couldn't get anywhere beyond second base with Danielle McAdams.

They both made the junior football team. They were really good players, and were part of a minority of ninth graders that actually became starters for the team. Finn somehow still managed to be the golden boy however, and was the next in line to be quarterback the following year. Noah would have to settle, again, and just try his best to score more touch downs than anyone else on the team.

They were popular. Noah had a way of charming all of the ladies, while his reputation led him to being popular with the guys. Finn also helped him out a lot. All of the boys liked Finn, as he was the epitome of a golden boy, and since Noah was best friends with him, they had to like him too. Finn wished that he could have Noah's skills with the girls though. He knew that girls liked him, but Finn also knew that he became incredibly shy around girls and would blow his chances more than half the time. He was a virgin, and he hated it.

Mrs. Puckerman continued her icy routine with Noah. She was so empty inside, and disappointed in her son that she couldn't bear to even acknowledge him half the time. She tried to make herself more available to her son again, and more motherly, but every time she tried she burst into tears. She soon began associating Noah with all the things that were wrong in her life. Neither Mrs. Puckerman nor Noah realized that her chilly attitude towards him was the major contribution to why Noah was sleeping around so much. He wanted to feel loved. He needed to feel wanted. He never achieved this as he was only having sex with girls he didn't care about, but that didn't stop Noah from trying because in complete honesty, he was also a teenage boy, and they have certain urges as you probably know.

Ninth grade was also a good year for Noah as he didn't make a massive, life-shattering mistake. He made mistakes, such as failing math, or accidently flushing his sister's fish down the toilet, but there wasn't a defining mistake that really changed things in his life… well, that's what Noah thought for most of the year. However, he didn't know that he was going to make a mistake, maybe not life-shattering, but defiantly life-changing, by the end of the year.

It all started when Noah started to reinvent himself. He didn't want to be seen as anything that resembled a little kid. He wasn't, but the teachers, and his mother, and a certain blonde that made the prestigious cheerleading team still thought of him as a little kid who cried when Lola had died, or had drawn polar bears with eyelashes. So, when Noah came back from spring break he had shaved his head into a mini sort of Mohawk. He thought it was extremely badass, and mad him look tough. He also started to work out intensely. He was going to make sure that he was buff, and pure muscle by the time he was a sophomore. He pierced his nipple, and started chewing tobacco. His tough guy image seemed to work. Even more girls seemed to flirt with him, and he was getting invited to even more parties. Life was good.

One day, Noah was hanging out with Noah, Matt and their new friends Simon and Gary, and he was retelling a story about how he spent the night with Veronica Ryder last weekend. Needless to say, his friends were impressed. They sipped the beers Simon had stolen from his older brother, and discussed matters further.

"I don't know how you do it," Finn sheepishly admitted, "I can't get a girl to have sex with me, but you manage to do it practically every weekend!"

Noah shrugged. "God gave me a gift. It's only right if I use it."

Simon laughed. "You belong in a movie. The player with the cool hair. Geez, if only your mom didn't screw you over with your name. Noah doesn't sound too dangerous, if you know what I mean."

Matt nodded. "I've been friends with you since kindergarten it's true. Noah doesn't fit your personality."

Noah took a swig from his beer bottle. "What do you want me to do about it? Change my name?"

Gary shook his head. "No they mean just like a nickname. What about Cherry-popper?"

Noah blushed. He might be a stud, but even he could get embarrassed at such remarks. He was thankful when Finn disagreed. "It has to be something we could call him in public. It still has to be cool."

"I've got it," Simon announced, "What about Puck? It makes sense because of your last name and all, we could call you it in public, and it happens to rhyme with one of your favourite hobbies."

The boys agreed that Puck would be Noah's name from here on in. They clinked their beer bottles together to solidify the announcement. Noah wouldn't realize it, but when he transformed from being himself, to being Puck, his personality took a major hit as well. His first instinct was to always be an asshole, because that's what people expected from him. They expected him to throw the queer in the garbage bins, or slam nerds in lockers. It wasn't like he had a choice either, if he didn't be a jerk, then the other guys would make fun of him, and he would end up being the one reeking of garbage. Even if he knew it was wrong, he couldn't do anything about it.

Everyone started to call him Puck, and his womanizing ways were becoming even clearer to everyone. However, one person still saw the little boy when she looked at him, but that would all change. And that, is Puck's big mistake from the ninth grade.

He had planned on going to one of the Cheerio's parties one weekend with Finn. He thought the host was Brittany, but he wasn't sure, and it honestly didn't matter. A party was a party, and no matter who was throwing it, or who was attending, Puck would make sure that he got some action. The guys always asked him about his escapades the following Monday, and Puck knew that if he didn't have a story to tell, he would never hear the end of it.

Finn and Puck entered Brittany's house and the music was blaring. Both boys set out to flirt with different girls, even though only one of the boys ever really managed to get anywhere with women. After a while, Puck realized that a lot of the girls were in Brittany's backyard, hanging out by the pool. He made his way outside and scouted out the area. His eyes fell on one girl, who had her feet dipped in the water, as she sipped her (presumably non-alcoholic) drink alone. Puck knew that there wasn't a chance that he would get anywhere with her, but he hadn't talked to her in so long, that he felt that he needed to.

So Puck marched over to where Quinn Fabray was lounging by the pool, and he sat down beside her. He took his shoes and socks off so that he could dip his feet in the water as well. She looked at him and smiled. She really shouldn't have, as throughout the past year Puck had turned into a person that her parents would despise and disapprove of one hundred times more than they already did, but she couldn't help feeling butterflies in her stomach whenever he was around her.

"How have you been Noah?" She asked, being ever so polite, as usual. She pulled him into a one-armed hug, and quickly parted.

Puck crinkled his nose. "You know that's not my name anymore Fabray. You're probably the only one that still calls me it."

Quinn shrugged. "I can't help it. We grew up together. You'll always be Noah to me."

Puck didn't know why that comment comforted him so much, or why it made him feel warm inside, but he did know that he liked the feeling. Puck took a look at her drink and asked, "Tonic?" Quinn shook her head. "Some wine cooler. My mom tells me to drink them when I go to parties because I'll get a buzz and people won't think I'm a wimp that won't drink, but it's pretty much impossible to get drunk off of them."

"So, you're a Cheerio now?"

Quinn smiled, as this had been a very big accomplishment to her. Mrs. Fabray had always told her daughter that being a Cheerio meant being the best, and that it symbolized beauty, power, athleticism, and popularity, among other things. "Coach Sylvester says I should be head cheerleader this time next year if I keep up the excellent work."

Noah nodded, pretending as if he cared. The truth was, he didn't really care for small talk, but he would sit through listening to Quinn Fabray because she was special, unlike any other girl whose mouth his tongue would be down this very second. No, he would pretend to listen to Quinn, because being a Cheerio meant a lot to her, and Puck did want Quinn to feel special. Plus, it wasn't like he was going to try anything with Quinn. She had proclaimed her virginity time and time again, even starting a celibacy club, which he might have joined with Finn because she had asked him in such a sweet tone that he couldn't say no to, and he knew that she probably still had daily reminders from her parents about how he was such a terrible person. More importantly, Puck was looking to sleep with somebody that night, as he wasn't in the mood to put up with emotions and being romantic. He just wanted to feel good about himself, even if it was only for a few seconds, and only sex would give him that. He wouldn't fuck Quinn though, even if he could convince her to take off her promise ring, because she was the type of girl that you make love to, and Puck was definitely not in the mood for making love.

So he nodded and pretended to care, and then asked, "Why haven't we spoken in a while? Even when we meet up every month for celibacy club, _we_ never talk."

Quinn shrugged her shoulders. She knew that she just wanted Puck to make the first move, but she wasn't going to tell him that. "I don't know. We both have probably just been preoccupied. I've missed talking to you though Noah."

He couldn't help but smile at that. He made swirls in the water with his foot, and decided that he would take the time to be romantic and nice to Quinn, just not that night. So he set them up for the future. "Then we should talk more often. You know, the Sadie Hawkins's dance is coming up soon."

Quinn blushed. She definitely wasn't ready to ask Puck out, but she was ready however to play coy. "That's almost a month away. I wouldn't want to make any confirmations until I've had time to weigh out my options."

Puck knew that Quinn's options were limitless. Any guy would be thrilled to go out with her. She was the most beautiful girl in the grade, popular, smart, a Cheerio, she had an amazing body, she was nice and could even be funny at times, and she had the whole virgin thing going for her which was _so_ hot.

"How do my odds look?" Puck decided to be risky and threw all the cards out on the table.

"You remember my parents Noah… and how they feel about you." Noah waved that comment away, and replied, "We'd find a way around that. So be honest, what are my chances?"

Quinn giggled, and stood up. She slipped her shoes back on. She puts her hands up in the air and shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not sure. But, if I were you… I'd start on renting a tux." She walked away, and Puck was beaming inside. Quinn Fabray was going to ask him to the Sadie Hawkins dance. He would definitely be the envy of all the guys.

He was so happy that he started drinking. He knew that it was almost a miracle that Quinn would even consider going to a dance with him, so he thought that he deserved a little reward. He had about three beers and his mind started to go fuzzy. He knew he didn't have full control of his mind, but it was screaming at him that he needed to get laid that night. So he went back into Brittany's house and looked for a suitable candidate. The first girl he saw was Santana, who was visibly plastered.

Puck had known Santana since kindergarten, but they hadn't really been friends. They had both been popular however, which meant they did associate with each other on occasion, but she was best friends with Quinn, and since Quinn tried not to hang out Puck often because of her parents Puck and Santana had not interacted as much as they would have otherwise. She was hot though, and joining Cheerio's along with Quinn had really done her body good. So Puck walked over to Santana and laid his charm on her.

It wasn't long before Puck had convinced Santana to go up to one of the empty bedrooms with him. She was drunk which made her a lot more inhabited, and she always thought that Puck was hot. She also was intrigued with his new dangerous vibe. They started with making out, but Puck made it obvious that he wanted more. He was lucky that Santana had been drinking because she was a high-maintenance girl, and he shouldn't have expected sex without even taking her on a date first. However, she was a lot friendlier after drinking and she was perfectly fine with going further with Puck.

He left a trail of kisses down her neck before he removed his shirt. He felt Santana's hands exploring his developing ab muscles and removed his shirt for her. Soon, both of them were left in their underwear. Shirts, jeans, shoes, and Santana's bra were scattered around the floor from when they had been thrown.

"This is my first time." Santana mumbled as she looked Puck in the eyes. To be perfectly honest, he didn't care. It didn't make much of a difference to Puck if the girls he hooked up with were virginal or if they were promiscuous. He needed to feel wanted, and they needed to feed their insecurities so to him it seemed like a fair trade-off. Puck started kissing Santana lower and lower, when he heard the door to the room open. He had been stupid and had forgotten to lock it in case anyone tried to interrupt their fun.

"Santana, are you in here," Puck heard before the door opened, "Come on, my dad's here to give us a ride home."

Santana lifted her head up, and once the door opened she saw Quinn standing behind it. Puck turned his head to see who it was. When he looked Quinn in the eyes he realized that he had just made a huge mistake. Santana was Quinn's best friend! What had he been thinking? Especially since she had just admitted that she would most likely ask him to go with her to the dance.

That wasn't even the worst part. Puck saw Quinn's eyes fill with tears as she looked at him, but then her face moulded to show indescribable anger. It was a face that could battle any of the dirty looks her mother had given Puck. She spat out with disgust, "You can find your own ride home Santana!" She turned around and slammed the door behind her.

Puck might not have been too good with understanding emotions, but even he could realize that Quinn was mad at him, not Santana. He couldn't screw it all up. Quinn was his dream girl, and he couldn't throw everything away when she was within his grasp. He lifted himself off of Santana and tried to get off of the bed.

"Quinn," He called out, but he knew that he had really slurred it out and she wouldn't wait for him anyways. He tried to stand up, but he felt Santana's arm wrap around his waist.

"Come on Puck, what are you doing? Don't you want me?" She tried to pose seductively, but Puck couldn't help but dye laughing inside. Santana was a cliché. She was the best friend of the most popular girl in their grade so she was naturally self-doubting, and apprehensive.

Puck found himself wanting to go and run after Quinn, but he figured it wouldn't make a difference. All she would do is yell at him, cry, and make him feel terrible about himself. Which he kind of deserved, but it didn't mean that he wanted to feel that way. The only reason he had come up to the room with Santana was so that he _wouldn't_ feel like he was some kind of failure. Plus, by the time he put his clothes back on and ran downstairs she would probably be out the front door where her father would be able to see him. Puck had no doubt in his mind that Mr. Fabray wouldn't hesitate to beat him to a bloody pulp if he saw Quinn so much as talking to him.

So Puck leaned back down and started kissing Santana again. He tried to block thoughts of Quinn from his mind, as it was putting a damper on his situation, but her face kept popping back up in his mind. He couldn't help but feel guilty, but he still had sex with Santana. He thought that if he went through with it that he might be able to forget Quinn. The only alternative was to go home, take a cold shower, and then proceed to beat himself up about how much of a screw-up he was. So he slept with Santana.

Throughout the weekend Puck felt bad about what had happened. He felt awful that he had made Quinn cry, but he had come up with a solution. On Monday he would give her a heart-felt apology and she would have to forgive him. They would still be able to go to the Sadie Hawkins dance together, Puck would try hard to impress her parents, and they could start going out. Everything would be perfect.

But Puck's life was far from perfect. Things never came easy to him, and more rarely would they ever go right. So Puck should have realized that Quinn wouldn't be too forgiving, but he didn't. Part of him thought that since she was a devout Christian she would apply the principle of forgive and forget to her own life, but Quinn was also a teenage girl. She was a teenage girl with extremely hurt feelings.

On Monday Puck found Quinn walking in the halls to her locker. She was hard to miss, with her hair pulled back tight, and the bright red of her Cheerio's uniform flashing. He walked up to her and he put his hand on her shoulder so she would stop and turn to face him. She relented.

"Quinn, I'm so sorry."

Quinn's face didn't give any of emotions away. Puck had thought he would see the same sadness he had seen on her face at the part, or maybe even anger at him, but she was calm and collected, making sure not to let him know what agony she was going through inside. "Leave me alone Puck."

She started walking away, but Puck followed her. He swore to himself that he wouldn't let her go without taking a real shot at trying to make her forgive him. Puck hadn't let it go by unnoticed that she had called him by his nickname, and not Noah. He walked along side of her and said, "Quinn, please forgive me. I screwed up, but I won't do it again."

Quinn stopped and turned around to face him. Her eyes were shooting daggers at him. "You're so lucky that I need you and Santana for numbers, or you two would be kicked out of the celibacy club so fast you wouldn't even realize what was happening."

Puck smirked. There was some humour in this situation after all. "Come on Quinn, you didn't really think I was being celibate, did you?"

Quinn did not respond to his question. She gave him a blank look and retorted, "I can't believe I ever thought there was any good to you. My parents were right about you. You're a walking STD that'll hump anything that moves."

Quinn started walking away. Puck couldn't help but be hurt. Quinn was siding with her parents, and he could only imagine how much she hated him if she really thought that her parents were right about him. He yelled out, "So I guess we're not going to the Sadie Hawkins together?"

Quinn turned around, and placed her hand on her hip. She gave Puck a look that was most condescending. "You actually thought I was seriously considering you? Aw, that's cute, but no I've already asked someone." With one flip of her hair she turned around and walked away.

Puck knew that he had missed his last shot with Quinn. The other times he always knew that he still had a chance because she would still steal glances at him across the classroom, and find excuses to talk to him, but this time she completely cut herself out of his life. But Puck had noticed the change within Quinn when she had talked to him. She had called him Puck first off, which must have meant that she had lost all respect for him, but she also was mean, insulting, and cold, something that she had never been. Quinn Fabray was usually an angel to everyone, but as the day went on Puck noticed that her icy and plain bitchy attitude was not only towards him, but everyone. She insulted girls as they walked by in the cafeteria, and she would only offer smart-ass comments to those that talked to her. Therefore, Puck realized that just as he had transformed from a little boy with parental issues, to a rebellious stud, Quinn had also changed from an innocent nice girl, to a vengeful bitch. Yes it was true, Puck had lost his chances with her.

At lunch Puck sat down at his usual table made up of jocks and Cheerio's and was immediately ambushed by Finn who was sitting across from him. "Dude, you will never believe what happened!"

Puck shrugged his shoulders. "You finally lost your virginity?"

Finn punched him on the shoulder as boys do and shook his head. "No, but it's still pretty awesome. Quinn Fabray came up to me before classes started in the morning and asked me if I wanted to go to Sadie Hawkins with her! Can you believe it? Quinn Fabray is like a goddess! She could've asked someone on the senior football team and they'd have said yes, but she asked _me_!"

Puck felt like he had been punched in the stomach. He kind of deserved it though, he had after all had sex with her best friend, so it seemed fair that she asked his best friend to be her date for the dance. Still, Puck didn't care how fair it was, it hurt. He was always the second-best, or the consolation prize. Especially when Finn was involved. What made Finn so great anyways?

Puck couldn't explain any of that to Finn though, because then he'd be labelled as the wussy who actually had feelings for a girl. It wouldn't fit with his stud status. So Puck merely congratulated Finn, and started stuffing his face with the pizza he had bought from the cafeteria.

At the end of the day, right before Puck left to start walking home from school, Santana came up to him. She looked at him in the eyes. "We're going to start dating."

Puck's eyebrows scrunched in confusion. "I'm not really a relationship type of-"

"I'm not asking you Puck," Santana interrupted, "I'm not going to lose my virginity to some one-night stand. We're going to start dating, and you're going to the Sadie Hawkins dance with me. Understand?"

Puck didn't care for Santana much, but she was hot and popular. If she was willing to continually have sex with him it might not be such a bad situation. It might even help his chances of hooking up with girls in the future. Girls seemed to like it better if they thought there was a chance that one night of sex would turn into something more.

"We'd have to have sex a lot for me to date you."

Santana shrugged her shoulders like it wasn't a big deal to her. "Whatever. Just don't tell Quinn. I finally got her to forgive me for breaking my promise to God. You should have heard all of the names she called me."

Puck nodded, even though he had a feeling that Santana had to seek forgiveness for something other than a broken celibacy promise. "So you're my girlfriend now."

Santana sighed. "Yes, and you're my boyfriend. So don't act like an asshole and cheat on me or I'll make sure you'll regret it, and my birthday is in two weeks tomorrow. Don't forget to buy me a gift." She smirked, and then walked away.

Puck took a deep breath. He was now a boyfriend to someone. He hadn't been in an actual relationship since the eighth grade when he had dated Olivia. It was a weird feeling, but Puck remembered how mean Quinn had been to him that morning and realized that dating Santana would be a way of getting back at Quinn. She would almost certainly get jealous.

You see, throughout the day Puck had been repeating Quinn's words over and over in his head and soon he became certain that she was the one at fault. Who was she to act like he was nothing? She shouldn't be able to judge him. She didn't understand about all the things that had gone wrong in his life. He was positive that if Quinn had to go through life and have everything go wrong for her, and always make mistakes that hurt people, that she wouldn't be such a goody-goody. So he hated Quinn for judging him and acting like he was worthless. Thus, going out with Santana wasn't wrong. It would make Quinn jealous and that would make Puck _very _happy.

But it didn't seem to work. Quinn continued to ignore Puck. She did however become extremely loving towards Finn. They constantly were holding onto one another, or sneaking innocent kisses in the hallways. Puck and Finn were still best friends, but Puck couldn't help but to resent his best friend out of envy.

On the other hand, he was constantly fighting with Santana. They had almost perfected a schedule. They would fight and hate each other, sometimes they would even break up, then they would forgive each other and have make up sex, get along for about a week, and then another huge fight would break out. Puck hated that he was in such a dysfunctional relationship, while Finn was in such a perfect one. Finn and Quinn were the golden couple. Their names rhymed for goodness sakes! Puck wanted to stick his finger down his throat any time Finn mentioned his escapades with Quinn, especially ones that involved her hot tub. The only part that Puck could find solace in was that Finn constantly complained that Quinn wouldn't let him get past first base, and that she was still proclaiming her celibate state. Puck didn't want Quinn to lose her virginity to Finn. She deserved better. Even if Finn was nice, and popular, and the quarterback, he was still an awkward, bumbling idiot and he would have no idea what to do if they had sex.

As time went by Puck started thinking about Quinn less and less. It was hard to forget about her completely, but Puck was thankful that she wasn't running through his mind every day. During the summer Puck even managed to get to a place where he was happy. Sure, he didn't have Quinn, but he had the second hottest girl in the grade, and in all honesty Quinn had become the biggest bitch in the entire grade. He was however going to be one of the star football players in the fall, he had a great girlfriend, and his relationship with Finn had gotten a ton better since Finn wasn't so jealous that Puck got _all_ the ladies _all_ the time.

So Puck forgot about Quinn and tried to move on with his life. He was doing it successfully as well… that is, until one night in September.

All in all, grade nine wasn't too bad for Puck. He had become an official stud, he got a serious girlfriend who actually liked sex, he was popular, and he was on the football team. Maybe he blew his shot with Quinn but it didn't end up mattering that much. Quinn Fabray was nothing more than a fantasy. Also, his mom still didn't acknowledge him but that was a fact that Puck had ultimately accepted. He had disappointed both his mom and Quinn Fabray, but he knew that he wasn't a screw-up. He had ambition, and he was going to go somewhere. He would prove everyone wrong. That was his attitude… until a bomb was dropped on him only a few short weeks after that one night in September. But that's a story for another time.

_I'm really sorry that this chapter took so long to write. The holiday season has left me pretty busy but I had some free time today since there isn't any school so I decided to write this chapter in one sitting. I hope you all enjoyed it. =)_

_ So there's the clarification to how Noah became Puck, and how Quinn became the catty Ice Queen that we first saw her as. _

_ The next chapter will most likely center around __**THE**__ night, so make sure to stick around for that! I have some interesting ideas for how Puck and Quinn ended up sleeping together and I can't wait to start writing it. I'll try to get it done by Thursday, but don't hold me to that. I do promise to try my best to update as soon as possible. _

_ Thank you to all that are reading and reviewing so far. You guys really rock and thank you for all the support and just for being interested in the story!_

_ If you have the time, I would love it if you could leave me a review. Writers take great time to create these stories, and they love to hear feedback from their readers =)_

_ Until next time, _

_ Happy Reading_


	6. Chapter 6

_Okay so this story is rated T but there might be a light M part in this chapter. It is after all, the night. I still think it is T as nothing is graphic, but some of you might think otherwise. You'll know when it gets to that part, so just skip if you don't want to read it. _

You can go through your whole life trying to be what your parents want. You can make all of your decisions trying to become a successful person. You can hope that God will love you, and be proud of you. However, in one moment, all of that can be ruined. Quinn Fabray learned this the hard way. She didn't plan for anything to happen, and she regretted it once everything was over. Well, she regretted it mostly, but she was scared to admit that she didn't regret it for the reasons she was supposed to. She didn't regret her mistake because of who she made it with, or because they weren't married when it happened. She regretted it because it just wasn't the right time. It wouldn't have been as big of a deal if she wasn't dating Finn, or if he hadn't have been a womanizer for so many years. Because she was with Finn she felt that she was so ungrateful for having such a sweet boyfriend, and because he was a player she couldn't help but feel used after it was all done. She wondered if she could've been anyone else and it wouldn't have made a difference.

But Quinn isn't who we have been following this whole story. We have been following Noah Puckerman, now known to everyone in Lima as Puck. His mother, sister, and some teachers were the only ones that still called him by his real name.

Grade ten had just started and Puck had a feeling that everything was going to be good. It was going to be like the ninth grade. He would have fun, be a star on the football team, and go to parties, only this time he would only be hooking up with Santana at the end of the night.

Except things didn't go that way, not at all. Just after school started Santana claimed that Puck had been flirting with some of the other Cheerio's. Puck denied it, but Santana insisted it was so, and she wouldn't be humiliated by having a boyfriend cheat on her, so they had to break up. Puck had been bummed out at first but then remembered that soon enough they would be back together. He just had to be patient.

But then something else happened and Puck could have sworn that it was the worst thing that could possibly happen to him. Finn Hudson, his best friend of 3 years, decided for some reason, to join Glee Club. You heard that right. He joined Glee Club, which everyone knew was the lamest, and gayest thing that anyone could be part of. Singing, and dancing, and acting like a complete buffoon on stage were the three main aspects of it. It was a tradition for the students of McKinley High to vandalize the Glee Club page in the yearbook. No self-respecting person would ever be part of the group voluntarily. But Finn was, and that made Puck furious. He made unsuccessful attempts one after another to get Finn to quit the club but it seemed that Finn was staying in it.

If Finn was in Glee Club, everyone would start thinking that he was gay, and Puck could not have his best friend be gay. That wasn't the way things worked. He knew that having a gay best friend would make his popularity plummet. Puck also had a suspicion that people might think _he_ was gay, if his best friend was. He couldn't let that happen, not at all. He tried again and again to get Finn to quit, but it didn't seem to be working, so Puck decided to just be extra mean to all of the kids in Glee Club. Sure, he had thrown that gay kid in the dumpster on occasion, he was guilty of slapping all of the books out of the hands of the kid in the wheelchair, and he did have fun throwing slushees in the face of the most annoying girl on school every once in a while, but as long as Finn stayed in Glee Club Puck set out to be horrible to all of them every single day.

Puck had to do this to save his reputation, and his popularity because he didn't have anything else. He wasn't smart, his home life was a wreck, his friends weren't really friends, but more like people to get drunk with, and he didn't have a girlfriend anymore. Besides football and his guitar, Puck had nothing but being popular. He needed to hang on to it, and if he had to do that by proving to Finn that quitting homo-explosion was the right thing to do, well then Puck was going to do it.

One day he walked from the parking lot with some of his friends on the football team and waited by the dumpster. When they saw Kurt walk by Puck grabbed him. After diverting Mr. Schuster's suspicions, and letting Kurt keep his messenger bag safe, Puck threw him into the trash. This was the pecking order, and it was the way things were meant to be.

Next, Puck walked into the school and saw the Asian girl with the stutter. He didn't know her name, but he knew she was in Glee Club. So as he walked past her he slammed his hand down on the books she was carrying, and walked away before he could see them drop to the floor.

There was one thing he really had to do, and it involved Rachel Berry. Puck thought that she was the most obnoxious girl on the planet, and he would rather slide down a line of razor blades into a pool of rubbing alcohol than listen to her speak for half an hour. Puck also knew that she was in love with Finn. He had seen the way she looked at him when they sang that Journey song, and he noticed that Rachel was always trying to find some excuse to talk to him. Puck also noticed that this made Quinn furious. Puck had no idea what Finn's problem was. He had the hottest, smartest, girl in the grade as his girlfriend but he was still flirting with _Rachel. _Quinn was the head of the Cheerio's! But no, Finn wanted the president of the geeks. Puck didn't get it at all.

So terrorizing Rachel didn't only make Puck feel good, but it amused Quinn as well, and as much as Puck had tried to forget about her, she was always around, what with being Finn's girlfriend and all, so it was a hard task. That's why Puck and his friend stole two slushees at the corner store at lunch, came back in the school, and threw them at Rachel's face. It felt amazing. Rachel prided herself on being respected, but she did it so annoyingly that it felt right to show her that she actually had no respect. This time that he slushied Rachel was extra special, because as he had walked down the hall he had seen Quinn talking to Rachel, with the most evil look on her face. He knew Quinn would be thankful for him doing this. Puck timed it perfectly and as soon as Rachel turned around she had two slushees flying into her face. Puck gave his friend a high-five, and as he passed by Quinn, smiled at her. She smiled back and started laughing.

Puck thought that Finn was going to quit for sure after all of the abuse the other glee kids were getting, but he didn't. Instead, one Friday, Finn decided to do the most mortifying thing in the world in front of the whole school at an assembly. Finn, and the rest of the Glee Club performed a routine to _Push It_, complete with sexual movements galore. Puck thought he was watching a soft-core porn flick for a moment. After it was over, everyone but the football team and the Cheerio's started jumping up and applauding. Puck knew that the two groups were the only ones that refrained because they were the only ones with some taste. He also knew it was because they were so ashamed that Finn Hudson, one of their own, the golden boy, was being incredibly lame and embarrassing.

That night Puck was at home playing his guitar. There weren't any parties that night and after his best friend had officially become a huge queer, he wasn't in the mood for going out. His mom was off with some guy for the night, most likely not coming home. Hannah was at a slumber party. Puck was thankful he had the house to himself. He needed time to be alone, and figure out how to get Finn to quit the Glee Club once and for all. If he had done that, then Puck's life would've gone on as planned. However, that was not what happened. Instead, what happened led to one of Puck's greatest mistakes of all.

The doorbell rang and Puck went to answer it. He opened the door and it was quite possibly the last person he would expect that was standing on the other side. It was Quinn Fabray. The girl who wanted nothing but to be left alone by him, and the girl who he had hurt and he suspected that was why she had turned into such a bitch. Yes, that girl was outside of his house. She looked like she had been crying. Her eyes were red, and puffy, but she still looked beautiful. Puck thought it was probably impossible for her to look anything less than beautiful.

"We need to talk." She pushed past him and led herself inside. Puck stood there, still holding the door open, not sure of what had just happened. He ended up closing the door and followed her into the kitchen where she had sat herself on one of the stools by the island.

"What do you need to talk about?" Puck asked confused as ever, standing opposite from her, leaning against the island.

Quinn started her planned speech. "Finn is your best friend, and I'm his girlfriend. For some reason he's decided to join that sorry excuse for a club, and I know that we've both failed trying to get him to quit alone, but maybe if we try to do it together we could actually get him to drop out of it. He'll have to understand that it's not only hurting him, but hurting us."

Puck sighed. "There's nothing more that I'd want than to have him quit that breeding ground for homos but it's not going to happen."

"No," Quinn screamed, "It has to! He has to quit! Everyone thinks he's gay, and that I'm his beard! We're going to become social outcasts, and no one will ever vote us into homecoming royalty! He's ruining my life! I mean, did you see the way he was dancing with that tranny this afternoon? It was humiliating! I cannot lose him to her! But I think he likes her… and well why can't I just be good enough for him? I'm hot, I work out, I'm popular, but he decides to like a girl that can _express_ herself! She told me they made a _connection_, and you heard what she told the celibacy club! She thinks she can just throw sex in his face and he'll be hers! It's not fair. Even Jacob Ben Israel has moved on from me to her. You have to help me Puck. We have to get him to quit and never speak o those gleeks again! I can't lose him… I can't lose my popularity…" Her voice trailed off.

Puck knew what Quinn was feeling. He had been thinking the same things ever since Finn had joined the stupid club. He knew what made him feel better when he was down, so he opened the fridge and looked for a beer to hand her. He found a bottle, but right beside it were a six-pack of wine coolers his mom had bought a while ago and forgotten about. He remembered how Quinn had told him they were the only alcohol she drank, so he pulled them out instead.

He put the six-pack on top of the island and handed her one. She looked at the bottle, and then back at Puck and raised an eyebrow. "What's this?"

Puck shrugged. "It'll make you feel better. Trust me."

Quinn was hesitant to take it, but she decided to. She had been feeling awful, and completely worthless, so she thought that drinking had to make her feel a little bit better. It seemed to work for all of her friends at parties.

Puck let Quinn ramble on, and continue telling him how Finn joining Glee Club was going to be the defining moment on how she would be condemned to become a Lima Loser. He ignored the fact that she was basically saying the same thing, but over and over again, and he just let her continue on. She needed to vent to someone, and after what he had done to screw things up between the two of them in the past, he felt like he owed it to Quinn to be that person. They ended up moving to his bedroom because Quinn was complaining it was too hot in the kitchen, and they brought the wine coolers with them. Puck had two, they were a bit too sweet for his liking, and Quinn had four. She was loosening up, and letting down the hard exterior that she had built around herself over the past year towards him.

"I mean, look at my face! I'm gorgeous… he'd be an absolute idiot to cheat on me with that _thing_, don't you think? I'm not going to let myself be dumped for a girl who hikes her skirts halfway above her ass."

Puck nodded, and took a sip of his wine cooler. He knew from experience that it was much better between Quinn and him when he didn't talk. There wasn't a chance for him to say something stupid and ruin everything.

Quinn looked at Puck and sighed. She wiped a single tear coming from her eye. "I wasn't always like this… _you_ know that. I didn't used to be so mean, or insecure. How did I become so obnoxious?"

Puck realized what this was all about from that comment. Quinn felt like she was inadequate. Maybe she felt that he hadn't wanted her and that's why he slept with Santana, and now she thought the same thing was happening with Finn. She felt worthless. Puck knew the feeling quite well. He would make sure she knew that she wasn't insignificant.

So Puck sat up from where he was laying on the bed, and leaned down to kiss Quinn who was laying on the other side of the bed. He kept his weight off of her by holding himself up slightly, and started to put pressure on her lips. Quinn was stunned at first, but after a moment she responded to the kiss. Puck smiled against her lips. He placed his tongue against her lip, asking her to open her mouth. She did, and his tongue started to explore her mouth.

His hands grazed her starting from her shoulders, to her waist where he kept them as he started to kiss her neck. He heard her moan, and he was happy. He knew how it felt to want to feel wanted. He would stop at nothing to make sure that Quinn felt that she was wanted that night.

Puck noticed that her arms were rigid and had stayed put around his waist. She was amazing at kissing but Puck realized that she had no idea what to do past that. He left a trail of kisses up her neck until he got to her earlobe and he whispered, "Relax, don't be shy."

Quinn seemed to be brought back to reality for a second. "Puck it's just…" Her voice trailed off and Puck hoped that she wouldn't continue and tell him that they needed to stop. This is what he had been waiting for ever since he kissed Quinn the first time, back in the seventh grade. He didn't want to lose her yet again. But Quinn didn't finish her sentence. Instead, she lifted his shirt above his head, and started kissing his chest. She saw his nipple ring and bit down on it. Puck felt like he was in heaven, but then he remembered that this night was not about him. It was about Quinn. They both felt that no one cared about them, but Puck was putting himself aside for the night. He wanted Quinn to feel special. So he lifted her head up and kissed her sweetly. Then, he lifted up her shirt and started touching her, feeling her, as he continued to kiss her.

Soon, they were both completely naked. This was it, the moment that Puck had been waiting for. He had spent almost two years sleeping with girls to try and fill the hole in his life without success, but he was going to make sure that Quinn knew that he wanted her. That's why he had been gentle all the way up to this point, and he made sure that they went slow. He didn't want to rush Quinn into anything. He felt the same way he had when he had danced with Quinn in the seventh grade. He didn't have to act like a stud when he was dancing with Quinn Fabray, and he didn't have to now either. She had never let a boy get this far with her, and that was enough. Being the first one to dance with her, or to touch her the way he had that night, that was enough.

Puck was glad to be Quinn's first. He trusted himself to be her first. He would be kind, and he had already promised himself that he would make her feel good about herself. He also knew what he was doing. He didn't want her first to be with someone who took advantage of her, or someone like Finn, that wouldn't know what to do and would make it all awkward. It was good that he was her first.

Quinn looked into his eyes and whispered, "It's my first time Puck." He nodded. "I figured."

He entered her and once it was over Puck rolled over and put his arm around Quinn. The both stared at the ceiling. They didn't know what to say to each other. They were most defiantly not the same little kids they once were. Puck hoped that he hadn't done anything wrong. This night was for her after all. He started to rub her left shoulder with his hand and that's when Quinn lost it. The cross necklace around her neck started to feel like it was burning. Her guilt overwhelmed her and she burst into tears.

Puck looked at her. "Quinn, what's wrong?"

Quinn sat up and kept the sheet wrapped firmly around her body. "What's wrong? I'm president of the celibacy club! I'm the leader of my youth group! I'm dating your best friend Puck!"

Puck sighed. "Don't call me that. Call me Noah." He didn't want to be that person to her any longer.

"I can't!" Quinn cried. "Why not?" He replied.

Quinn sobbed. "Because Noah is the person that drew eyelashes on polar bears and… kissed me like I was going to break. _You're_ not that person, you made that clear."

"I liked you first. Before Finn, before anyone. You know that."

Quinn shook her head. "You slept with _my_ best friend!"

"That was a mistake." Puck tried to hold her hand, but she slapped it away while still holding onto the sheet to cover her from him. "Don't touch me. This was a mistake. That's all. I'll go to confession and it'll be over with. This didn't happen. If you tell anyone I'll deny it! Finn will hate you and no one will-"

Puck didn't want to hear this. He had tried to make Quinn feel good and now she was yelling at him. It didn't feel right. It couldn't be right. He started to get mad at her. She could have said no at any moment and he would have stopped, but she never did. She kissed him back, and she responded to everything. She couldn't act like he was some terrible person. So he interrupted her, "Fine I won't tell anyone."

Quinn started crying again. "Turn around so I can change." Puck sighed and laid his face down on his pillow so he couldn't see anything. Once enough time had passed he lifted his head up and got out of the bed to put on his pants.

Quinn passed his pants to him. "Okay, listen. This was a mistake, but it's alright. If we don't tell anyone and I go to confession then it'll be fine. Finn won't have to find out. My parents _can't_ find out. God will forgive me, and then this will be okay. It has to be."

Puck realized that Quinn wasn't explaining anything to him, but trying to convince herself that she hadn't ruined her life. She started to walk out of his room and Puck followed her. She got to the door and Puck put his arm on her shoulder.

"You can't drive home. You've had four wine coolers." Quinn smirked at the comment. "So what do you suggest? I spend the night? Not likely. That you drive me home? My parents will kill the both of us for being in the same car. I'm not drunk okay? I'll be fine."

Puck relented. He wasn't going to win the argument. Quinn started to go out the door but she stopped, turned around, and stood on her toes to give Puck a chaste kiss on the lips. "It was a mistake… but thank you."

Puck nodded and he watched as Quinn walked out the door. She was gone and he knew that she probably hated him. Maybe he should have just kissed her. He knew that she was saving herself for marriage. He should've asked at some point. But she never told him no. She was the one that took his shirt off first. He still felt bad though. She felt ashamed of herself when all he wanted to do was make her feel good about herself. He should've known not to use his logic of solving things. He always drank and had sex to try and feel good about himself and it never worked. Why did he think it was going to work with Quinn?

This was Puck's mistake. He knew that he had made Quinn feel so ashamed of herself. He was aware that she now felt like a failure. Then, things got worse. Puck realized that he hadn't worn a condom. But it would be alright. What were the chances anything would happen?

Oh Puck didn't know that those chances were very good. He wouldn't know that until one month later when a bomb was dropped oh him. But, we'll get to that later. At this moment, Puck felt like such a screw-up. The one girl that he cared about more than anyone – even though he wouldn't admit it – hated his guts now. She had thanked him, but he knew she was so disappointed with herself. He doubted that she would ever be able to look at him again. So he started singing to himself what his teacher all the way back in the first grade had taught him. "Oh, Life goes on. Things will be okay. Though Quinn is gone, tomorrow is a brand new day. Everyone makes a couple mistakes, somewhere along the way."

_Hoped you all liked that chapter. I imagined it better in my head, but oh well, I'm happy with it. =)_

_Thank you to those who are reading/reviewing/story alerting/ favourting, etc. You guys rock and I really appreciate it! _

_If you have the time, please leave a review! Writers take great care writing their stories and feedback is always appreciated, it could be your Christmas present to me ;)_

_Speaking of Christmas, Merry Christmas to you all, and Happy Holidays for all of my non-Christmas celebrating readers! =)_

_I hope you all have a wonderful New Year's (though I'll try to update before then)._

_The next chapter will be all about how Puck finds out that Quinn is pregnant. Stay tuned for that!_

_Until next time,_

_Happy Reading_


	7. Chapter 7

It was Monday after school and Puck was hanging out at Finn's house playing x-Box. Puck couldn't concentrate that much on the game however, as his mind as fixated on other things. Things like a blonde cheerleader that he knew must hate him. After all that had happened he had imagined that when they went back to school things would be different somehow, but he was foolish for thinking that. They went back to school and nothing had changed at all. Quinn ignored him and was attached to Finn by the hip. He was still the womanizing football player and she was still the supposedly celibate head cheerleader. No one would have suspected a change, but to Puck so much had changed. He had Quinn that night. She chose him. She might have chosen Finn to be her boyfriend, but she had chosen him to be her first time, and to Puck that meant a lot more. Apparently not to Quinn, as she hadn't spoken to him or even looked at him since it had happened. Puck knew she regretted it, and figured that she was trying to forget about it all. If distancing herself as far as possible from him was the way to do that, Puck knew that's what Quinn Fabray would be doing. That would explain why she had parked much further away from him in the parking lot at school, and had immediately went off to find Santana after he had approached her and his best friend to tell Finn that football practice had been cancelled.

So even though that night had meant something to Puck, he knew that it didn't to Quinn. She would just consider it a regret. As a result, Puck tried to also put it off his mind, and just have fun playing video games with Finn, like normal best friends do. Normal best friends don't sleep with each other's girlfriends, even if they did have a lot more history together. Besides, Finn would hardly be fine with Puck's reasoning that he was simply trying to make Quinn feel better.

What Puck didn't know is that the night they had shared together was all that was on Quinn's mind. She didn't want it to be, but it was. Quinn wanted things to go back to normal. Her life had been so simple and easy. She was head cheerleader, and Finn was the quarterback. They were popular, and having fun. She wished she hadn't went over to Puck's house, but at the time she had thought it was her only option for Finn to quit Glee Club. She was manipulative and Puck was kind of evil. The two of them working together would have been a sure fire way to bring Finn back to normalcy. Quinn also did know that if she went over old feelings would resurface. Feelings she had been hiding away for so long.

Quinn _had_ gotten over her feelings for Puck after she started dating Finn. She had realized that bad boys don't change and she should be happy to have a boyfriend as sweet as Finn. He was who she was supposed to be with. Even her parents approved of him, and they were critical of _everyone_. But even if she had put those feelings to the side, Quinn would never be completely over him. She had a connection with Puck that wasn't like anything she felt with other boys.

In the seventh grade, after a particular winter dance, Quinn had decided that she was going to marry Noah Puckerman one day. She thought it would be so romantic to be able to say that her husband was the first boy she ever kissed. She knew her parents would be furious, but they frequently discouraged her. They tried to control her life that Quinn thought of herself as a sort of Rapunzal like character. She would wait in her tower though, until her prince, Noah, came to save her. In the eighth grade things became more complicated. He wasn't sweet Noah anymore. Quinn was hearing all of the rumors about Noah and Olivia and she couldn't help but be a little sad that Noah hadn't waited for her. Her parents had instructed her to wait until she found the one she loved and was married to have sex, and through all of her fantasizing, Quinn had convinced herself that Noah loved her. She made a new plan. Noah would realize all of his mistakes, get his act together, and then they would marry and lie happily ever after. Her parents presented her with a purity ring, and Quinn knew that Noah would be her first time, when they were married of course.

Grade nine was when Quinn changed her plans. She might have originally asked Noah to the Sadie Hawkins dance because she was blinded by her unreal expectations, but when she walked in on Santana and him about to have sex, Quinn realized that the boy she thought she loved had become a completely different person. He was now Puck. He didn't care about her. So Quinn gave up her dreams of marriage, which she thought were so stupid now anyways, and realized the bigger dreams she had. She wanted to go to university, move out of Lima to a big city, and become something important. She didn't know what that was, as she was still in high school and deciding what to do with the rest of her life seemed daunting, but she knew that she wanted to make a difference in the world.

She would never tell anyone how she once dreamed of marrying Puck. That would be far too embarrassing, and it would seem so juvenile. Plus she was so over him now, or so she had thought. When she had went over it had all been innocent but when he kissed her… she felt those old feelings coming back to her. She tried to convince herself it was okay because he might have changed, or he might have realized his mistakes, but deep down Quinn knew that he hadn't and she was trying to convince herself that he had because she did want to be with him. She wanted to know that he still wanted to be with her too. Maybe Finn and Jacob had started developing feelings for Rachel, and maybe a lot of the boys were starting to pay attention to Santana more now that she was single, but if one person wanted her, and only her, it would be okay. She wouldn't be a failure. Puck had made her feel like she was the only one for him. So she gave in, and made herself ignore the screams coming from her mind telling her to stop. She made herself not think of Finn, or her promise to God (she noticed Puck had slipped off her purity ring right before they actually had sex), or her parents, or Santana, or anyone else that might be upset at her for doing it. But when it was all over, she felt the guilt sweep over her and it was too much. She ran off and tried to forget about it all. But she couldn't, and it wasn't something that she could just take back. So Quinn was left in a very sticky situation.

Maybe if she went over to Finn's house and spent some time with him she could get thoughts of Puck off of her mind. She knew that Puck had went over to Finn's after school but it had been two hours, and he should have left by now. So Quinn decided that she would do it. She would spend time with her sweet boyfriend, announce to him that she had joined Glee Club after school that day to hopefully convince him that she was a supportive girlfriend, and then they could make out so that Quinn could realize that she belonged in Finn's arms with his lips upon hers.

She picked up her car keys and rushed downstairs. Her mother had just walked in when Quinn reached the bottom step. "Where are you running off to so fast?" She asked as she smiled.

Quinn put on her shoes. "Finn's. I finished my homework, and I ran on the treadmill for thirty minutes. I promise I'll be home before dinnertime."

Mrs. Fabray shook her head. "Your father and I have that dinner party tonight honey. I guess you can stay out a little later then, just be back home before eight. It is a school night after all."

Quinn smiled. A little extra time with Finn to fully convince herself that he was the right boy was what she needed. "Thanks mom."

"Is anyone else going to be there?"

Quinn shook her head. "Well Puck might be there now, but he'll be leaving soon if he is."

Mrs. Fabray scrunched her eyebrows. "Puck… as in the Puckerman kid?"

Quinn nodded. "He goes by Puck now. I guess he thinks it makes him sound tough or something."

"I didn't know that you two hung out."

Quinn gulped. She could hear the scorn in her mother's voice. She had to remedy the situation. "_We_ don't hang out. He's Finn's best friend, and he's off and on with Santana. We're kind of forced to hang out sometimes."

Mrs. Fabray nodded, but Quinn could tell that she didn't fully buy the story. In any case she let Quinn walk out of the door and drive off in her car to Finn's house.

Finn and Puck were still playing video games when they heard the door open. Puck looked at Finn. "Who's that?"

Finn shrugged. "Probably Quinn. I told her that when I play videogames I drown out other noises, so she doesn't really knock anymore."

As soon as Finn had finished his explanation Quinn entered the room. "Hey Finn," Her eyes set on Puck, sitting on the floor, "Oh, I didn't think he'd still be here. I can go." Quinn hadn't realized how hard it was to be in the same room as Puck.

Finn stood up and brought Quinn into the room. "Don't be dumb. Puck's cool, he doesn't mind if you hang with us."

Quinn smiled and tried to act normal. She sat on the bed and watched as Puck and Finn played their video game. Finn tried to be polite and make conversation with her, but Quinn knew that he was more interested in blowing up simulated characters.

It was very awkward being in the same room as Puck. She kept thinking that at any moment he was going to spill their secret. She knew he wouldn't. He had as much to lose as she did by revealing the secret, but she still felt as she was living in fear.

The washing machine in the basement started beeping and Finn sighed. He paused the game. "I'll be right back." He left the room and walked downstairs. Puck and Quinn were left alone.

The tension in the room was evident. Quinn tried not to look at Puck so that things wouldn't be as difficult. However Puck wanted to talk to her. He wanted answers. He didn't know how she could act so normal given their situation. But he also wanted to her to look at him again, so he started off trying to be nice.

"Do you still want to work together to get Finn to quit Glee?"

Quinn shook her head. "I've got it covered. I joined the club today."

Puck burst out laughing. Quinn gave him the infamous Fabray dirty look so he quickly stopped. He took a deep breath and tried to gain some courage. He needed her to know something. "Quinn, I just want you to know that night did mean-"

She cut him off, and spoke quietly, but harshly. "Don't Puck. Don't act like it meant anything to you, and don't pretend that you care. It's over. We'll forget about it, and _never_ mention it again. But don't try and make me feel better by pretending that you care about me. I'm not an idiot. I know what kind of a guy you are."

Puck was starting to get angry. Everytime he tried to be nice Quinn would just throw it all back in his face. "Yeah, what kind then?"

Quinn stared at Puck. She wasn't sure if she wanted to say it. If she did, she knew that he would probably become furious at her and not want to talk to her again, which was a big plus. Still, it would really hurt his feelings and Quinn didn't know if she wanted to be so mean. In the end, Quinn realized that the ice cold bitch character she had been playing throughout high school was a tough role to escape from. That's why she said what she did.

"You're exactly like your dad."

Puck felt as if he had been slapped across the face repeatedly. He glared at Quinn. He hated her at that moment. She had no right to say that. He wanted to slap punch her. He wouldn't of course because she was a girl, but if she had been a guy he knew that they would be on the floor right now fighting it out.

"You don't know my dad." Quinn recognized the defensiveness in Puck's voice and the hurt in his eyes but it didn't matter to her. He had made things so complicated for her that he deserved a few hurt feelings. "Everyone knows the basics Puck. Plus, my mom filled me in on the rest. They went to high school together. You both are bullies. You both are womanizers. You're both inconsiderate, rude, manipulative, and disgusting. The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, even if the tree gets up and leaves."

Okay that was it. He didn't care if she was a girl, he desperately wanted to punch her. She wasn't the Quinn he knew. This wasn't the girl that bragged to him about her Christian bandages or held her arms around his neck as they danced. She wasn't sweet. There was no other way to put it other than the fact that Quinn was a bitch. Maybe he had something to do with it all but he never would have said anything that mean to her. Until now. All bets were off the table. Puck wasn't going to be nice to her when she was rubbing in the fact that his dad had abandoned him. Quinn was going to see just how mean he could get.

"Have you told your parents yet how it was a Jew that screwed you for the first time? I bet they'll be so proud of their perfect daughter taking off her purity ring and sleeping with some random guy. If you want, I could go over and explain it to them for you."

Now it was Quinn's turn to want to kill Puck. This wasn't him. He had never shown this side of himself to her. This wasn't the boy that tried to impress her with bike tricks, or always turned to her when he didn't know the answer to something. She felt tears forming in her eyes but she didn't want to give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry. She tried to hold them back as she furiously told him, "Shut up! Don't ever talk to me again. I don't want you to even look at me anymore-"

She was going to continue her rant but they heard Finn coming up the stairs. When he entered the room both Quinn and Puck stood up. They both said at the same time, "I'm leaving." Finn stared at them, clueless to what had happened. "What's going on?" He noticed the tears in Quinn's eyes.

Puck started walking to the door. "I have to go clean someone's pool. You guys stay, have a blast, and bend some of the celibacy club rules. I'll see you later man."

Puck left the room and walked out of the front door. Finn stared at Quinn, still very confused and having no idea what had happened when he had been down in the basement.

"What was all that about? I leave you guys for five minutes and I come back with you crying and him leaving."

Quinn put on her signature Ice Queen face with a hint of confusion. "It's nothing Finn. I'm just having a rough day."

Finn didn't want to ask the question that had been on his mind recently. He wanted to ignore the situation and pretend everything was alright, but he was curious and what had just happened was most peculiar. "I know you guys went to elementary and middle school together. Puck and I were friends when we were like thirteen and he was always talking about girls and stuff. Did anything happen between you two then?"

Quinn gulped. She couldn't tell Finn the truth. She couldn't tell him her history with Puck. It was complicated and she didn't even understand it herself sometimes. She tried to think of a suitable excuse up in her head, and fast.

"Finn don't be crazy. The most that ever happened with us was dancing together at a seventh grade dance, but I would've said yes to Jacob Ben Israel for God's sake! He just asked me what was wrong today because apparently I looked sad and I just told him that I've been having family troubles and I started getting upset. So don't be crazy Finn."

Quinn was proud of herself for coming up with a story that wasn't so much of a lie, but she knew that a normal person wouldn't buy it. Luckily for Quinn, Finn was a lot more clueless than the normal boy.

"I'm sorry Quinn. I just thought since you were crying and he wanted to leave… you no what, never mind. Forget I said anything. I never should have asked anyways. That was a long time ago."

Quinn wanted to stop all of the talking about Puck. She just wanted Finn to like her again and be proud to have her as his girlfriend. She needed to distract him from Rachel and Glee Club. More importantly, she had to distract herself from all of the complications in her life.

"Do you want to go over to my house? My parents are out at a dinner party. We could go in the hot tub and… have a little fun?"

Finn responded exactly how Quinn wanted him to. He smiled and nodded enthusiastically.

That night Finn and Quinn made out in the Fabray's hot tub and Quinn actually did forget about the problems in her life for a bit. On the other hand that night was the first time when Puck slept with a cougar. He was sick and tired of feeling terrible about high school girls and their unreal expectations for things, so he figured that older women, most of whom were terribly desperate were the best way to amuse him and make him feel needed.

But if you're reading this you obviously know that Noah Puckeman is a boy that makes mistake after mistake. He thought that actually sleeping with Quinn was his mistake, but he didn't know that wasn't the worst part. He had screwed up in a worse way, and he would soon realize this.

It was a month after Quinn had lost her virginity and Puck had not spoken to her since they had exchanged insults. He was trying to forget her. He had even gotten back together with Santana, but she broke up with him and he decided they were over for good. He focused all of his energy into cougars now. He didn't want to deal with any teenage drama anymore.

But Finn had been acting strange lately and Puck tried to figure out why. However, when he finally managed to have Finn tell him after football practice, he felt like he had been hit like a truck. He let Finn walk on, and he stood still. It felt like time had stopped and all he could do was repeat Finn's words in his head. _Quinn's pregnant. She's keeping the baby._ It had to be his. Finn never mentioned having sex with Quinn. In fact, he had been complaining two weeks ago that she wouldn't go anywhere past making out.

Puck found Quinn the next day at school. He started off being a smart-ass and she responded by being a jerk. He realized though that it was his kid. He told her that he'd take care of the baby, and that he would take care of her too. Maybe she thought that he was exactly like his dad but not when it came to matters like this. He wasn't going to be a deadbeat. She didn't care. She spouted off about only sleeping with him because she was drunk and had self-esteem issues. She ran away and Puck felt absolutely horrible.

He had killed Lola in the first grade. He ran his bike into Quinn and he had beat Jacob Ben Israel up when they were ten. He had killed a fish, and a plant, and a squirrel. He had broken his mom's precious crystal dove from Ian. He had crashed his mother's car. He had slept with Santana when he actually had a chance with Quinn. He had slept with Quinn even though he knew she wanted to remain a virgin until marriage. But this topped it all. He had forgot to use protection, and now Quinn was pregnant. He had ruined her life. The innocent sweet girl he knew when he was younger was now having a baby. _His_ baby. She was too young. He was as well.

He didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to think. He wanted to tell Finn that it was his kid, but he knew that he couldn't… not yet at least. Quinn would refuse to let him ever see the baby if he did, and he'd also lose Finn as his best friend. He needed Quinn to choose him. He couldn't make the decision for her or it would just scare her away. Still, he didn't want Finn to be stressed out and scared when he shouldn't be, and he wanted to be involved as soon as possible.

This wasn't a situation where he could just sing a song or repeat the words of his first grade teach and feel better. Yes, people make mistakes in their lives, but Puck had made so many that he had no idea what to do. He was overwhelmed.

The worst part was that Quinn had called him a Lima Loser. It was exactly like spitting in his face. He wanted to prove her wrong. He wanted her to know that he had ambition and he was going places in his life. He never would have agreed to do the Single Ladies dance at the football game if it wasn't for her. He was willing to make a fool of himself if it would prove to Quinn that he would do anything to take care of her and his kid. But at the end of the day Quinn went back to Finn. The golden boy. Puck walked off the field. He was done. She could pick Finn for now, but he was going to wait in the sidelines until she realized that he was the right choice.

Out of all the mistakes in his life, the baby was the biggest. However, later in Puck's life he would realize that the baby defiantly wasn't a regret though, not even a little one.

_ Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all like this chapter! _

_ Thank you to all that are reading/reviewing/alerting/favouriting/etc. I really appreciate all the support! =)_

_ The next chapter will skip a bit ahead to when Rachel and Puck had their little fling. Don't worry, there will be some Puck/Quinn in that chapter as well. After that I have about 2 more chapters planned, but I'm not sure if the story is going to go beyond that. There will defiantly be three more chapters, and perhaps an epilogue. _

_ If you have the time I would really appreciate it if you could leave me a review telling me how you liked this chapter, or the story as a whole. Thank you =)_

_ Until next time_

_ Happy Reading!_


	8. Chapter 8

Ever since Puck had found out Quinn was pregnant his head had been a big mess. He didn't know what to think. He wanted to raise his baby, and be a good day, but he knew that Quinn didn't want that at all, and also by doing so he would be losing his best friend. He wanted to wait until Quinn chose him, but he was starting to realize how unrealistic that was.

Puck had asked his friend if he had even had sex with Quinn and was told something about an incident in a hot tub. Puck couldn't believe how clueless Finn was being, and how terrible Quinn was in fooling him into being a father. It wasn't like the real father was out of the picture. The real father wanted to be involved. However, Puck understood how lost and confused Quinn must have been feeling. He understood how much her reputation would plummet if people found out she cheated on her boyfriend with his best friend.

It wasn't like she could become any more unpopular though. Everyone at the school had found out she was pregnant from Jacob Ben Israel's blog, and that combined with being in Glee Club had almost made her a social leper. Luckily her parents didn't know. Although Finn told him he wanted Quinn to tell them the truth, Puck knew how furious they would be. He knew that was another reason Quinn was lying about the paternity of her baby. The Fabrays would murder her if they found out that she was pregnant with a Puckerman.

Puck tried to get all of these thoughts out of his head. If Quinn didn't want his help then there was nothing he could do at the moment. All he could do was have fun with football and Glee. He was trying. The football team had won a few more games which was really uplifting, and singing the mash up of It's My Life and Confessions was Puck's most exhilarating moment in a while – well, that might have had something to do with those vitamins they were given before they performed.

One day though Mrs. Puckerman had said something to her son that really stuck to him. She had still been ignoring him mostly due to her disappointment and it still hurt Puck deeply. He wanted his mother to at least talk to him again using more than one syllable words, and at least pretend that she was proud of him. He didn't know how to fix their relationship. His mother seemed to be done with him and there didn't seem to be anything that he could do.

One night, when the family was watching their annual viewing of _Schindler's List_ Mrs. Puckerman looked up at her son. Hannah had run out of the room screaming seconds before and his mother was teary eyed. "Why can't you date a Jewish girl?" Her voice was laced with more of the disappointment Puck had been experiencing for years.

Puck realized that this was a way that he could win back his mother's love. She would be proud of him if he dated a Jewish girl. That was easy enough, especially if she was hot. Then it came to him… in a dream. Rachel Berry. Sure, she was annoying, irritating, obnoxious, conceited, bossy, and high-maintenance, but that didn't matter. She possessed the two most important traits Puck was looking for: Jewish, and hot. It would make his mother happy and he might even get some sex out of it. Puck had to be honest, ever since Quinn became pregnant he had been having trouble in that department. Everytime he was with a girl his mind would start racing back and forth between Quinn and his baby and he wouldn't be in the mood anymore.

So Puck charmed Rachel into going out with him. He was a little surprised himself that Rachel had said yes so quickly but then he was reminded that he was a stud, even if he was in glee club, and Rachel did seem pretty desperate.

He went over to her house one night, making sure to tell his mom about her religious beliefs before he left which won him a smile and a hug. Rachel led him up to her bedroom and she nervously stood in front of him as he sat down on her bed.

"Noah, I need to ask you something."

It sounded unnatural for her to call him Noah. That was reserved for his mom, Hannah, and if she wanted to, Quinn. Rachel Berry was supposed to call him Puck. He wanted to be Puck in front of her. Noah was the guy that would actually admit feelings and be semi-intelligent. Puck was the guy that girls made out with. Therefore he defiantly wanted to be Puck to Rachel.

"The name's Puck… and what is it babe?"

Rachel shifted her weight from one foot to the other and twisted her hair through her fingers. She looked uncomfortable. "Your name is Noah… I don't care what the Neanderthals at school call you. Plus, Noah is a nice name. It comes from the bible… is that why your mother gave you that name? It's why my dads named me Rachel."

Puck sighed. "I don't care why my mom named me anything. I'm Puck, okay?"

Rachel shook her head. She was more confident now, arguing always did make her more self-assured. "I'm not going out with anyone that makes me call them Puck. Studies have shown that nicknames only weaken a relationship. I will however date a boy with a name like Noah."

Puck sighed. He needed to date Rachel if only because it would make his mom happy and there was the possibility of getting laid. "Fine, call me whatever you want."

Rachel smiled at winning the battle. "Okay well now back to my question… why me Noah? Why did you ask me out? I got the feeling from you that you thought I was irritating."

"I did think that," Noah realized immediately that he had to back-pedal, "I mean, I used to think you were annoying but after spending time in Glee with you I realized that really you're just… determined. I get that. It's hot. I want to be something too one day."

Rachel smiled. She didn't normally receive compliments, except from her dads, select teachers, and occasionally Finn. "You could be a really great singer Noah if you only tried more."

Puck shrugged her suggestion off. "Finn's the leading man in Glee club… and in football… and with Quinn. It's been that way since forever though."

Rachel tried to hide her emotions. She felt like she turned red whenever Finn's name was mentioned. Puck had realized what he had said and thought that Rachel might dig deep into it so he tried to remedy the situation.

"Listen, I'm not good at talking, but I'm good at other stuff. Want to make out?"

Rachel couldn't help but let out a giggle. She shyly nodded and wrapped her arms around Puck's neck as she lowered herself onto the bed.

Their relationship went on like that. They were either making out or Rachel was rambling on about some Broadway musical. Puck put up with it. His mother was thrilled about his son dating a Jewish girl. She nearly fainted when he brought her over to the house. Puck didn't want to admit it but he actually did like Rachel. He wasn't sure if it was just as a friend, or as something more but he didn't mind her as much as he used to. She wasn't half as irritating as he thought before, she was just insecure. Earlier that day he had experienced his first slushee attack and Rachel had comforted him. He appreciated it, and realized how humiliating it had been to everyone else who he had thrown slushees at.

He had almost forgotten about Quinn and the baby until one day when he walked into the chorus room a little early before Glee Practice. It was the day where all the football members were supposed to pick between Glee and football. Puck still didn't know his decision. He wanted Rachel to help him so he went looking for her but as he entered the room all he saw was Quinn was sitting on a chair, wiping her face. Puck realized that she had been slusheed as well.

"They got you too?" Quinn pretended she couldn't hear him at first but then she looked over at Puck. "They're throwing them at all of us who chose this lame club over our popularity."

Puck nodded. "Three months ago I was throwing them at Rachel. Now-"

Puck was going to say 'I'm getting them thrown at me', but before he could Quinn interrupted. "And now you're dating her."

Puck thought for just a second that there was a hint of jealousy in Quinn's voice but he instantly debunked that theory. There was no reason for her to be jealous. She was carrying his child. She knew that one word and he would dump Rachel and be with her so there was no possible way that she could be jealous. Maybe it was annoyance he heard in her voice.

Puck didn't know how Quinn had thought that he had been singing _Sweet Caroline _to her the other day and how humiliated she was when she found out that he was singing it to her nemesis and that they were in fact going out. Puck did not know that and Quinn wasn't about to tell him.

Puck didn't know what else to say. The only topics that came to mind had to do with the baby and he was positive that Quinn would kill him if he mentioned that. So he stayed silent. Luckily, Quinn was the one to break the ice. "Why are you here? I thought you were going to pick football."

Puck shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I was looking for Rachel. She seems to always know what to do."

Quinn smirked. Puck didn't understand. "What's so funny?"

Quinn shook her head. "Nothing. I was just remembering how I used to be the one you went to when you didn't know the answers. I was the one that always knew everything. But that's when we were kids… I guess I've been replaced."

Quinn was now looking at him with that look she gave him that night. The one full of longing. Why did she have to be so confusing? If she wanted him all she had to do was say so. Puck didn't like the mind games. "Well I thought you didn't want me talking to you anymore."

"I don't mind… if you avoid that one subject. Finn's the father and I'm not breaking up with him. That's the end of that."

Puck sighed. He was aware that Quinn was stubborn and knew that she wasn't going to change her mind. So he changed the subject. "What do you think I should do?"

Quinn put her hand to her mouth to think. "Well… if I had to choose between Glee or Cheerio's I'd pick Glee… but that's only because soon I won't be able to fit into the uniform. It'd be a waste giving up Glee if I would be giving up Cheerio's soon as well. You have a harder decision. You don't have to be pregnant. So… well I don't know Puck."

Puck nodded. "I'm going to go and figure it out."

Puck turned his back and started to walk away when Quinn called out, "You sang really well… the other day with _Sweet Caroline_. You're a good singer. You're a good guy… But Finn has to be the father."

Puck walked out of the room. He would still pretend that he didn't know what he was doing but he knew after Quinn's comment that he was without a doubt picking Glee. He would ignore the last part of her sentence and focus on the positive. She thought he was good. She thought Finn was better, but this was better than her hating his guts.

Later that day, after four out of the five boys picked Glee over football, and after Rachel had broken up with Puck, he drove around town venting out his frustration. How could a girl like Rachel dump him? How could Quinn still not want to be with him? Why was he never good enough?

Puck knew that he was unreliable, irresponsible, and made way too many mistakes but he tried to be a decent guy. Especially after joining Glee Club he had realized a change in his personality. So why did girls still not like him? Everyone liked Finn. Puck was just never good enough.

Puck finally drove home and walked inside. He tried to walk upstairs to his room but he heard his mom call out. "Is that Rachel girl with you honey?"

Honey. He hadn't been called honey in years. After Puck told his mom the truth, he reckoned it would be another couple of years before he heard it again. "We broke up today mom."

Mrs. Puckerman's smile quickly drooped to a frown. "You finally found a girl who was nice _and_ Jewish and you just break up with her? What's the matter with you Noah? I thought you were growing up! Why did you do this?"

That was it. Noah couldn't take it anymore. His head had been so caught up with all of the drama lately that he had to let it all out. "She broke up with me mom! You want to know why? She likes Finn! _Everyone_ always likes Finn better than me! Quinn, Rachel, every girl at the school does! You probably like him better than me! Heck, dad would like him more than me! He's the guy everyone likes and I'm just the sloppy seconds! It makes me feel like crap and it would make me feel a little better if when I got home my mother acted like she cares about me even a tiny bit. But no, you act like I don't exist."

Mrs. Puckerman was furious at her son. She hated being yelled at, and she was not going to take it. "Noah I don't hate you and you know it so grow up! Not everyone is going to like you! Now go to your room and stay there for the rest of the day!"

Puck smirked at the thought of being treated like a six year old and pounded his feet up the stairs into his room. He laid on his bed and tried to make all the bad thoughts go away, but they wouldn't. Every one stuck in his mind. He wanted to scream or punch a wall but he didn't. He put his head into his pillow and tried to fall asleep. If he was asleep he wouldn't have to think about Quinn, his baby, Finn, Rachel, his mom, or anything else that made him feel stressed, overwhelmed, or underappreciated.

That was how he was determined to go through his life. He wanted to feel numb. He hated being hurt so much and wanted it all to go away. He wanted not to care. But then one day when Quinn was walking down the halls, in her regular clothes since she had been kicked out of cheerleading, he saw her dress curve just a bit and he saw it. He saw the bump. It wasn't very noticeable but it was there. His kid. _Their_ kid. Maybe it would hurt to try and win Quinn over, but he had to try. He wasn't giving up on his kid.

…

It was a girl. A baby girl. They were having a daughter. It made everything so much more real. Before, it was his kid, or his baby, but now it was their daughter. Puck knew that he had to man up and try to win Quinn over. Sure, she had wheeled away with Finn and usually that would have made him break down yet again and give up on trying, but not this time. He was going to fight for his baby girl. He was going to try his hardest. He might have made a lot of mistakes, and he might have been a screw-up, but nothing was going to stop him from trying to be a part of his daughter's life.

_I am SO sorry for the ridiculous wait for this chapter! I've been majorly busy though and I honestly had no time to do it. But it's done now and I will try to get the next one up soon. I can't make that a promise however because my exams start Thursday and I'll have to study for those. In any case, I'm going to try hard though to update soon._

_ I hope you all liked this chapter. Not too much happened but again this chapter was needed to advance the plot of the story. Also, I thought it would be interesting to write about what actually happened with the Puck/Rachel fling. I don't get the Puckleberry fandom but people are going crazy over them! They're going to be back together when the back 9 comes back and that upsets me as I'm a huge Quick fan. Maybe it'll all lead to some big Quinn/Puck/Rachel showdown though (with Puck picking Quinn of course =))_

_ Thank you so much to my readers and reviewers. You guys are so amazing and I appreciate every single one of you and every review I get! There's not a huge Puck/Quinn fanbase on here so I'm thrilled with the amount of you that enjoy my story!_

_ Next chapter will fast forward to when everyone finds out the truth so stay tuned for that, it'll be a good chapter I think! There will also be a big part to the next chapter but I can't say anything about that. I will say that it's a huge part of the story though._

_Also, there's only about two more chapters of this story left. After this story I plan to write another Puck/Quinn fic. The idea of my next story would be more of a Rachel/Puck/Quinn triangle though so would any of you be interested in that? Let me know what you think._

_ If you have the time, leaving a review would make my day! Haha, thank you in advance for any of you that do leave one! =)_

_ Until next time,_

_ Happy Reading =)_


	9. Chapter 9

"Thanks, but I can't handle any more stress in my life right now. I know you don't understand it, but please respect it." With that, she was gone. She didn't want to be with him, even now after everyone knew the truth.

Yes, they knew the truth. Rachel had told Finn who then proceeded to punch Puck repeatedly in the face and yell at Quinn in front of the whole Glee Club, including Mr. Schuster and Ms. Pillsbury. Puck hated to see Quinn crying, but he couldn't help but feel happy that the truth was finally going to come out. Finn might have been his best friend, but his daughter was more important. As Quinn was telling Finn that he wasn't the father, Puck was trying to look brave, but he was scared to death. He always thought that he would have some sort of warning when Finn found out. Puck didn't think that he would be punched in the face out of the blue.

Everyone knew that he was the father of Quinn's baby. They realized that Puck had slept with his best friend's girlfriend. They didn't know about all of Puck and Quinn's history. They didn't know how terrible Finn had made Quinn feel that night, and how Puck was only trying to help her. Puck correctly guessed though that if they did know the facts, they would still be on Finn's side. Everyone was always on Finn's side. He was the golden boy. Puck was the screw-up.

Puck thought that now that everything was out in the open Quinn would want to be with him. She didn't. She wanted to do it on her own. She was right when she said that he didn't understand it. He didn't know why she would want to go through a pregnancy by herself at such a young age when he was willing to help her. She wanted him to respect it. He wasn't sure if he could even do that. He wanted to be a part of everything. However, he knew that pushing himself on Quinn would just make her more mad, so he vowed to try and let her do it on her own for a little bit. That was the best that he was willing to do.

On the bus ride to sectionals Puck tapped Quinn on the shoulder. She was sitting in front of him. She turned around reluctantly and her eyes looked like they had been tearing up earlier. "What is it Puck?"

He took a deep breath and hoped that his charm could solve everything. "Quinn… is this all about the sexting thing, because if it is, I want you to know that I'll stop. I promise."

Puck was being sincere. He thought that he was doing the right thing by sexting. He had given up sex when he decided to try to win Quinn over, but he thought that if Quinn was allowed to date Finn and lie about their daughter's paternity, that it was fair if he could send sexy messages. Apparently not.

Quinn looked Puck in the eyes and for a second he thought she was going to profess her love for him and they would finally be able to be together. He quickly realized that was not going to happen. "It's not that Puck. I want – I need to do this on my own. Please, if you want to help then you'll accept it."

They won sectionals. It was a great moment, but Puck still wasn't satisfied. Finn had made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with him, as did Quinn. He wanted to back to the second grade when his mistakes were innocent and not serious. He hated having everyone made at him. He knew that it wasn't just Finn and Quinn that were mad or disappointed in him. He could tell that Santana was pissed. He also thought that Rachel was a little mad, maybe because he didn't tell her when they were dating. The other kids just looked at him like he was scum. Scum that knocked up his best friend's girlfriend. They didn't understand, but it wouldn't make a difference if they did.

One day, after the club had showed Mr. Schuster the trophy, and did their thank-you performance to him, Puck drove home. Finn was still angry, but he was staying in Glee. He was using the silent treatment against both Puck and Quinn. Puck accepted it though. It was better than he deserved. Anyways, when Puck walked into his house he saw his mother. She was sitting down at the kitchen table. She had a book on the table, faced down, and she looked like she had been crying.

Puck walked over and stood across the table from where she was sitting. "Mom, what's wrong?"

Mrs. Puckerman wiped her eyes and sniffed. She turned over the book and held it up so Puck could see. "I was leaving some laundry on your bed when I found this laying on your floor. Start explaining Noah." It was an old copy of a book explaining how to have a healthy pregnancy that Puck had found in a box in the attic. He had read it some time ago and had forgot he had it.

He was nervous and felt his hands get sweaty. He decided that the best thing to do was lie. He didn't want his mother getting anymore upset with him, especially when it was looking like Quinn was giving the baby up for adoption, and didn't want him in the picture at all. "It was for some school project in health class. Don't freak out mom."

His mom shook her head. Her eyes, still red and puffy, were glaring at him. "Don't play games with me Noah. Tell me the truth."

Puck didn't say anything. His clammy palms were kept accompanied by his sweaty forehead. It was all too much. He wanted to tell his mom the truth, but he didn't want her to be mad at him – or even worse, disappointed.

"Who is she? Noah please, the jig's up so just tell me. Is it that Latina girl you brought over here a couple of times?"

Puck felt a frog at the back of his throat. His mom was right. The jig was up, and there was no use in lying. It was still hard to get the words out though. "Mom… I screwed up."

"You've got that right," His mother replied as a few more tears fell from her eyes, "But Noah I can't help you unless you tell me who this girl is. Is it that Jewish girl… Rachel was her name, right?"

Puck shook his head. "You're not going to believe me if I tell you."

"Try me."

Puck took a deep breath, and cleared his throat. "Quinn Fabray."

His mother gasped. She stood up from the kitchen chair and walked over to stand in front of her son. She raised an eyebrow. "The oh so holy Quinn Fabray? President of the celibacy club? Wasn't she dating Finn?"

Puck nodded. "It wasn't planned or anything. It just happened and then she was pregnant and now Finn hates me and she won't let me be a part of anything. I screwed up bad mom."

Mrs. Puckerman wrapped her arms around her son and hugged him. It was the first hug she had given him in almost two years. She rubbed his back. Puck, for the first time in years, let himself break down. He cried into his mothers shoulder.

"What did her parents say?" His mom knew just how strict the Fabrays were and would not be surprised if they had disowned their daughter.

"She told them it was Finn's a long time ago and they kicked her out. She hasn't told them that it's mine, they'd probably sue her or something if they found out."

They broke out of the hug and Puck wiped his eyes so that it didn't look like he was crying. His mother did the same.

"Are you mad at me?" He asked. He thought this was going to make his mom more disappointed in him than ever, but she was acting nicer to him than she had in ages.

She shook her head. "I can't say that I'm not a little disappointed, but mistakes happen and you're my son. I've been thinking about what you said Noah and you're right… I haven't been treating you like I should. So to make up for it, I'm going to try and help you with all of this. So… do you want to keep this baby?"

Puck nodded his head. "Yeah, I do. Quinn wants to give it up for adoption. It's… it's a girl mom. I'm having a daughter."

His mother clicked her tongue. "I'm much too young to be having a granddaughter. It's alright though. We'll figure this out. Where's Quinn living?"

Puck shrugged. "She was living with Finn but I'm guessing he threw her out when he realized it wasn't his baby. So… I don't know. She doesn't talk to me. She wants to do this on her own."

Mrs. Puckerman sighed. She knew her son was irresponsible but she didn't think she would have to be dealing with a teenage pregnancy with him. She remembered back when Quinn and Noah were kids. She knew that they had crushes on each other but it was all innocent back then. Noah had changed once high school came around though, and Mrs. Puckerman could never figure out why. She did notice that he was becoming much like his father. However, the conversation with her son did give her some hope. Hope that he wasn't like his father. He wanted to be their for Quinn and his daughter. His father had up and left once he had realized that his girlfriend was pregnant.

"Find out where she's living Noah, and make sure that she knows that she can live here if she wants to. Help her, okay? But don't be too pushy. She'll come around, but right now you just have to be there for her, even if that means you have to wait on the sidelines."

Puck had followed his mother's advice. He found out that Quinn was living at Rachel's house and she didn't particularly enjoy it, but it was better than living in her car. He told her once again that he wanted her and their daughter and he was immediately denied. He waited though, and waited, and waited.

He waited for his mother's advice to ring true. He was beginning to lose hope, he had to admit it. Quinn seemed to be doing fine on her own. She didn't burst out crying during Glee Club, or act like she was a social leper like Puck had expected. She hung out with Brittany sometimes, but when Brittany was with Santana the awkwardness won over and Quinn would talk with Artie, Mercedes, or Tina who seemed to be the most accepting of her. She avoided looking in Finn's direction in fear of bursting into tears, and looking at Puck was out of the question. She wasn't a damsel in distress, and Puck finally gave up hope. His family was gone.

It wasn't such a bad thing though he decided. He wasn't father material. He made so many mistakes. Killing animals, crashing cars, running over girls with bikes, and that was just the tip of the iceburg. He was not responsible. He was a screw-up. He was _the_ screw-up. He would mess up raising his daughter. Therefore Puck accepted the fact that Quinn was not letting him be involved. It was for the best. Puck was not ready to be a dad.

But then it happened. Quinn was seven months pregnant and her baby bump was especially noticeable. Even her loose, baby doll dresses couldn't help her anymore. One day, after Glee practice, as they were all walking out of the door, he felt a tapping on his shoulder. He turned around and saw that it was Quinn.

"Is something wrong? Is it the baby?" His nerves started jumping around in his body and his hands became clammy at once.

Quinn shook her head. "She's fine. I just wanted to ask you if you could hang back and talk to me for a minute."

Puck nodded instantly. There wasn't a need for questions when it came to him and Quinn. Whatever she asked, he would have to do. She had that kind of weird power of him, but he didn't mind. He'd rather her have a holdover him than anyone else. They walked further back into the choir room and sat down in two empty chairs beside each other. Puck faced Quinn and saw her close her eyes as she took what looked to be a deep breath.

"I told you that I wanted to do this by myself, and I did. I've tried doing this by myself for two months and I've realized that I can do it."

Puck knew what she was going to say. She didn't want to give the baby up for adoption. She wanted to raise it as a _single_ mother and not have him in the picture at all. His heart sank as he listened on.

"But Puck, even though I can do it by myself… I don't know if I necessarily want to do it by myself. You told me that you wanted to be with me. Do you still want to?"

"Yes." Puck's hopes were starting to rise but he tried to keep them in check with his expectations. He didn't want to start thinking that he could raise his daughter only to have those dreams crushed in mere seconds.

"Well… I want to keep our baby. It's going to be hard but I've made my decision. I don't have much money but I do have a trust fund that my grandfather set up for me before he died. I was thinking that if I get emancipated from my parents that maybe I could get access to it. That would be a big help. And… I wanted to know if you still want to help raise the baby? You don't have to… but I want you to be able to. We don't have to be going out either. That's up to you."

Puck couldn't believe it. This was all of his dreams, wrapped up into one neat package. He pinched himself. It couldn't be true. He didn't wake up. He was wide awake and this was happening. Quinn wanted to be with him, and she was offering him the chance to raise their daughter. He looked at her, her eyes seemed to be watering a little. He blamed it on her pregnancy hormones. But then, everything came back to him. His fears, his nerves, and it was unsettling.

"I killed Lola in the first grade. Remember?"

Quinn looked confused, but she slowly nodded her head. Puck continued, "I've killed Lola, a fish, a plant, and a squirrel. I broke my mother's favourite thing ever, it was some crystal dove. I ran into you with a bike in the fourth grade. I crashed my mothers car. I slept with Santana. I… I got you pregnant."

Puck felt like he was on the verge of tears but he choked them back. He was not going to cry in front of Quinn Fabray. Quinn at the same moment was looking as if she wanted to cry. She quietly whispered, "That doesn't mean anything Puck."

Puck shook his head. "It means everything. Don't you see the trend Quinn? I'm not dependable. I can't take care of things, alright? I'm careless. Lola, and the car are just samples, small examples of mistakes, and stupid things I did Quinn. That's why I'm so afraid to raise a kid. So… why would you want me to raise her?"

Quinn couldn't help letting some tears fall out. "Puck… you're her father. That's why I want you to raise her. You'll be a good dad. You never would have done all of what you did if you were going to be a bad one."

Puck let out one tear and quickly wiped it away. He wasn't going to humiliate himself. He took a deep breath. "What if I drop her?"

Quinn smiled. "You won't."

"What if things don't turn out okay?"

"They will."

"What if I forget to feed her?"

"You won't. She'll be crying loud enough to remind you."

Puck sighed and tried to get his words out without breaking into tears. "What… what if I start to need her… and she goes away."

Quinn gave Puck a sympathetic smile. "Puck, she's not your father, or your step-dad, or anything like that. She's your daughter and you're her father. She'll love you. You'll be a good dad. You'll _never _be like your father to her, and I know you won't be as demanding as mine was. No girl would leave a father as good as I know you'e going to be."

Quinn took Puck's hand, held it, and then squeezed it. Puck looked at her and whispered, "What if I make, just one mistake, somewhere along the way?"

Quinn took the hand that she was holding and pressed it up to her stomach. "Do you feel that?"

Pucks eyes grew wide as he felt a light jabbing from her stomach. "Is that her?"

Quinn smiled and nodded. "You can make mistakes Puck. Parents are supposed to. I know for sure though that you're not going to make any major ones. You'll love her too much."

Puck looked Quinn in the eyes. "Quinn, don't mess with me, okay? Is this for real? Do you really want me to help raise her?"

"I do."

Puck smiled. He couldn't help it. Everything he wanted was happening. He was going to able to be a dad to his baby girl. Quinn wanted him to. He got out of his chair, kneeled on the ground and hugged Quinn. He whispered in her ear, "And what about us?"

Quinn tilted her head to face his, and leaned in to kiss him. It was a chaste kiss, and it was over within seconds, but Puck thought it was perfect. He loved the way her lips felt against his. He loved being so close to her that he could feel her heart beat. Most of all, he loved being able to feel her smile while she was kissing him.

Quinn broke the kiss and frowned. "Did you mean what you said a few months ago? Are you going to send sexts if I don't sleep with you everyday?"

Puck knew that this topic was going to come up. He tried his best to word what he wanted to say the best way that he could. "Are we ever going to have sex Quinn? I like it Quinn, and if we're having sex then I promise I won't do anything with any other girls. We don't have to do it right now, but… are we ever going to do it?"

Quinn stared at Puck with her big eyes. "I don't know. I used to think that only married people should have sex, but now I'm not sure. I started thinking that maybe it should be that only people in love should have sex. I'm not in love with you though Puck, not yet."

Puck caught the not yet and tried to make her give him hope. "Do you think you ever will be?"

Quinn smiled. "Yeah. I think I might, and if I do fall in love with you… I guess that we could have sex. Are you willing to wait for that? Because if not, I don't want to do this."

Puck gave Quinn a peck on the lips and held her hands. "I'll wait for that Quinn."

They left the choir room and drove to Rachel's house where Quinn packed up her stuff and thanked the Berrys for letting her stay with them as long as she did. They then drove to Puck's house. He was happier than he had been in a long time. Quinn was his, he was allowed to raise his daughter, and they would both be living with him. They walked into the house, holding hands and Puck carrying Quinn's suitcase.

Hannah was watching TV and turned around when she heard the door open. She was surprised to see her bother with a girl at this time of the day. "Noah, I'm going to tell mommy you brought a girl home!"

Puck put the suitcase down in the hallway. "Hannah this is Quinn, and she's going to be living with us from now on, and mom's alright with it so don't even think about tattling."

Hannah stuck her tongue out at her brother and turned back around to get back to watching her cartoons. Puck directed Quinn upstairs. He picked the suitcase back up and lead her up the stairs to his room. They entered it and Puck went to his drawer and started emptying three of the drawers and placing all of the items into one of the drawers. "You can have those two drawers for right now, and you can take half of the closet."

Quinn smiled and started emptying her suitcase and organizing her clothes into the drawers and closet. Puck helped her unpack until he heard a knock on his door. "Who is it?" He yelled.

"It's me. Hannah told me you had a girl in your room." His mother said, and she opened the door. She was pleasantly surprised hen she saw Quinn in her son's room, placing a cotton dress into the top drawer.

"Quinn, it's been a long time since I've seen you."

Quinn smiled. "I hope it's okay with me staying with here. If it isn't"-"

Mrs. Puckerman interrupted. "Don't be dumb Quinn, of course its okay. You can stay here however long you want." Mrs. Puckerman walked over to Qunn and gave her a hug. Puck was surprised at how nice his mother had been since he told her about the baby. It brought him back to when he was a little boy and his mother would hug him and tell him she was proud of him. He loved her, and was so glad that she wasn't ignoring him anymore.

That night Puck and Quinn spent their first night living together. Quinn had changed into a large T-shirt and Puck was in his boxers. She pulled the covers down and got into bed first. He followed suit. Puck would never admit it but he was nervous about sleeping in the same bed as Quinn. What if he snored? What if he drooled? Luckily, Quinn quickly assured him that she was just as nervous.

"I'm really sorry but I'm probably going to get up a lot at night to go to the bathroom… also Santana always told me at sleepovers that I talk in my sleep."

Puck faced his side and held himself up with his arm. He brushed the hair out of Quinn's face. "Don't worry about it babe. I'll probably snore so let's just say we're even."

They laid in silence and darkness as they tried to go to sleep. Puck was just about to doze off when he heard Quinn whisper, "Why doesn't your mom care?"

"About what?" He murmured. Quinn slapped him lightly on the arm to wake him up. He rolled over to face her and opened his eyes. She was looking at him, and it seemed like she had been crying. Puck was starting to realize just how much she did that.

"About me being a Christian. If my parents ever find out that you're the father, and well it's a pretty safe guess to say that they eventually will… well I know that they're going to be furious about the fact that you're Jewish. Why doesn't your mom care that I'm not."

Puck wrapped an arm around Quinn to comfort her. "I'm sure that she always imagined me having a baby with another Jewish girl, but she just doesn't give a shit Quinn. She can't change anything, and it's not a big deal to her. I think it's your parents that are the crazy ones."

Quinn laughed. "Oh I _know_ they're the crazy ones. That's no surprise to me."

The couple drifted off to sleep and for the first time in a long time, fell asleep happy. They were together, and they were going to be raising their baby together. That was what they wanted. They both knew how hard it was going to be, but they also knew that it was well worth it.

Quinn didn't want to tell people that they were going out. She claimed that it would only hurt Finn and she had put him through enough. They kept things secret, and asked Rachel not to tell anyone that Quinn was no longer living at her house. Quinn thought that it was all for the best, that is, until one day when she walked into school to see Finn and Santana making out.

This would have made Quinn upset in any case, but add the fact that she was pregnant and her hormones were on edge, she could barely keep her composure. Instead, Quinn walked fast to find Puck. She found him by his locker so she walked over to him. She took his head, leaned it down, and kissed him with as much power as she could muster. He was shocked. Quinn had made it clear that they were to act like they had been previously, but if she still thought that, this defiantly did not make sense. Puck was still a teenage boy though, so he let the kiss linger for a few more seconds than he really should have, and then broke it off.

"What are you doing Quinn? I thought you wanted everything to be a secret?"

Quinn started to cry and wrapped her arms around Puck. She sobbed into his chest and he put his arms around her to protect her. He rubbed her back and asked what was wrong.

"I just turned the corner after walking into the school and bam… there was Santana and Finn sucking each other's faces off. I know they're just probably trying to get bac at us but still, it hurts."

Puck sighed. "So you make out with me hoping that'll it get back to them and make them more jealous? Cut the crap Quinn. If you want to be with me then be with me. I don't want to pretend anymore, or let you bend the rules when _you_ want. Either we're together, or we're not. And not because Finn and Santana were eating each other's faces, but only if you really want to be with me."

Quinn looked up at Puck. He was never so forceful. She had become comfortable making all of the decisions. Puck had not become complacent though. He wanted to be able to walk into the school, holding hands with the mother of his child, without having to worry if his former best friend was looking.

"I want to be with you Puck. You know that. I just don't want people to get the wrong idea."

He rolled his eyes. He could smell the BS from a mile away. "Why the hell do you care so much about what people think? They already now you're pregnant, andthey know that I'm the father. If they're going to get the wrong idea, then they've already got it."

Quinn twisted the hem of her dress and nervously held Puck's hand. She leaned up and kissed him lightly on the lips. Puck smirked. "You know, I think I liked the last kiss better."

Quinn smiled. "I don't care if everyone knows we're together, but those are still kisses for home."

Quinn and Puck held hands as he walked her to her class, and thus they were announced as a couple. Puck truly felt like everything was going his way now. He had Quinn, they were going to raise their daughter together, and he had even managed to get a job at a restaurant. Puck had found out that Finn had quit his job so he quickly went to the restaurant to beg to be Finn's replacement. He got the job and was making pretty good tips by innocently flirting with the women. He still had his worries about being a father, but he thought that as long as he had Quinn by his side, everything would turn out alright.

_ I hope you all liked that chapter. This was one of my favourites to write. _

_ Thank you to all that are reading and reviewing. You guys are so amazing and I want you to know that I appreciate all of you so much! =)_

_ There will probably only be one more chapter left of this story. I don't like dragging on a story just for the point of continuing it, so even though I love this story to death, I think that it will be for the best if I end it at the next chapter._

_ Also this story has been based off of the song Along the Way from the musical Edges. If you're interested, listen to the song. I would recommend Aaron Tveit's version. It's amazing, and the one this has been based on (as there are 2 versions of the song). Fun fact: Aaron Tveit actually auditioned for the role of Finn but did not make the cut as he was seen as being too 'Abercrombie' and not enough 'Midwestern'. _

_ For anyone who hasn't answered, I asked this question in my last chapter as well, would you be interested in reading a story that would be a sort of love triangle between Quinn/Puck/Rachel? Thank you to those who offered me advice, or suggestions. I have taken them into account. Also if I were to do the story it would almost 100 percent certainly end up Puck/Quinn just because I love them together so much. Anyways, for those who haven't answered, would you be interested in reading that?_

_ Writers spend a great deal of time and care writing their stories. If you have the time, reviews are very much appreciated =)_

_Until next time,_

_Happy Reading_


	10. Chapter 10

Quinn was sitting in Spanish class, one week before Spring Break when it happened. She was conjugating verbs on her review sheet when she felt her water break. She freaked out at first, but instantly realized what was happening. The baby was coming. Britney was sitting beside her. When the less than intelligent girl looked down at the mess she gasped. "Quinn, did you just wet your pants?"

Quinn rolled her eyes. "No Brittany! I'm having the baby!"

Britney's eyes grew wide. "In Spanish class?"

Quinn shook her head. "No – oh never mind Britney," Quinn stood up, and was slightly embarrassed about what she had to say next, "Mr. Schuster, my water just broke. I'm… I'm having the baby."

Mr. Schuster wanted to panic. This was after all the first time a student had gone into labour in his classroom. However, he knew that he had to keep his cool in order to make sure that Quinn stayed calm. He instructed her to text or call Puck and tell him what was happening, and that he would call for an ambulance.

Mr. Schuster left the room to make the call and Quinn started worrying. Her parents had cancelled her cell phone plan when they had kicked her out of the house. Puck and Quinn had decided that spending money each month on a cell phone plan was not really needed, especially since they were on such a tight budget. Quinn cursed herself for not thinking ahead.

She was about to ask Britney to borrow her cell phone when Finn turned around and placed his cell phone on her desk. She had forgotten that he also knew that she was no longer in possession of a phone. She looked up at him and felt even guiltier for ll the hurt she had caused this perfect, ever so sweet boy. "Thank you Finn."

He didn't respond. He turned around and pretended he couldn't hear her. It had been the same story ever since had found out about the truth. Quinn should have expected it. There was no time to feel incredibly guilty though, as she was having a baby. She quickly texted Puck letting him know that she was having the baby and to meet her at the Spanish room so they could go to the hospital together.

Mr. Schue came in announcing that the ambulance had come as soon as Puck walked into the room. Quinn gave Finn back his cell phone, thanked him, and watched his face turn back to sadness as Puck helped her walk to the door as they were off to have their baby.

Puck was scared out of his mind. Mind you, he had been scared all of this time, but now that the baby was actually coming, everything seemed real. This was happening. His daughter was being born into the world. He was going to be a father. He had to pretend to be strong. Quinn was freaking out even more than he was so he had to act as if he was brave. He took a deep breath as he stepped into the back of the ambulance with Quinn.

Six hours later and Quinn still hadn't had the baby. Mr. Schuster and Rachel were at the hospital. Kurt, Mercedes, Tina, and Ms. Pillsbury had stayed as well but they left a little over an hour ago once the clock striked seven o' clock and it seemed that Quinn would continue to be in labour for at least another two hours. Puck had told both Mr. Schuster and Rachel that they could leave but they didn't want to. They seemed intent on staying until the baby was born.

Puck had gone out of the hospital room to get a bottle of water. He walked out and saw Rachel sitting on a chair outside of the room. She was reading a book entitled _The Fabolous Life of Jewish Celebrities_. She looked up at him.

"Did she have it?"

Puck shook his head. "Go home Rachel. Seriously, the baby isn't going to be born for another couple of hours. Plus, it's not like you and Quinn are best friends or anything."

Rachel looked offended. "Maybe we haven't always gotten along but I was there for her when she moved out of Finn's house. We grew to be friends… sort of."

Puck nodded. He wasn't in the mood to argue. He knew that Rachel had only invited Quinn to live with her because she felt guilty about telling Finn the truth but he wasn't going to start a confrontation on the night his daughter was going to be born. "I'm going to buy a water bottle. Want to come?"

Rachel nodded. She put her book into her purse, stood up, and walked down the halls with Puck. He didn't particularly like Rachel. After they broke up he went back to thinking she was terribly annoying, but there were times when he would catch her holding back her obnoxious nature. She was trying to be less abrasive, and that's all anyone could ask for, so Puck had decided to give her another chance.

Puck laughed nervously. "I can't believe I'm having a kid right now. She's going to be here soon and I'll be a parent. It's scaring the hell out of me."

Rachel was silent for a moment. She pursed her lips. "When we were dating… you knew that you were the father. Why didn't you tell me?"

He shrugged his shoulders and tried to be nice with his response. "She didn't want anyone to know. She could've denied everything and I would've looked like some lying douche."

They got to the pop machine and Puck inserted four quarters and pressed the right button to make the water drop into the bottom of the machine. He picked it up and took a sip. Rachel put an arm on his shoulder. "Do you miss Finn?"

He did. For the past year, even before he had sex with Quinn, he felt the strain between his friendship with Finn. However, he missed the friendship they had shared from the time they were thirteen and had hopes and dreams of being popular and athletic. They were able to joke around back then and at like idiots. Once Finn had started dating Quinn, everything became too complicated.

"I'm not going to beg for friendship Rachel. If he wants to be friends then that's cool. If not, well… I've got bigger things to deal with now."

Rachel gave Puck a disapproving look. "Have you even apologized for what happened Puck?"

Puck shook his head. "That's not me. The apology is implied so if he wants to be friends then he can come and talk to me."

Rachel sighed and looked at her watch. "My dads called. They wanted me home soon. I want to stay until the baby is born but…well I don't see how much help I'm being. And you're right. Quinn and I are not the best of friends. Maybe I should go. Will you let me know when your daughter is born?"

Puck nodded. Rachel gave him a quick hug and walked away. Puck paced back to the hospital room where Quinn was waiting. He walked in and gave her a smile.

"Any closer?" He asked.

Quinn looked beyond agitated. Puck didn't blame her. "No, and all I've been able to eat for almost seven hours are ice chips! Why can't this baby just come out and we can be done with it all?"

Puck walked over to Quinn and leaned on the edge of the bed while he held her hand. "Don't worry. She'll come soon and this will all be worth it. My mom will be off her shift from work soon and she'll come here. Maybe she can offer you some tips to make the baby come faster."

Quinn sighed and let go of Puck's hand to put both of her hands on her stomach. "I'm defiantly not going to miss being pregnant. All those books told me I would, but I hate looking like some fat whale."

Puck laughed. "You'll lose the weight fast." He believed it too. Quinn Fabray was perfect. She would lose her baby weight in a miraculous amount of time. The kind of time that makes celebrities get cover stories in magazines.

"The books did say that breast-feeding burns a lot of calories. I don't know if I want to do that though. It might make my breasts sag or something."

Puck smirked. "Well Quinn… sex can burn a lot of calories too, and I'm pretty sure that doesn't make your boobs sag."

"I told you that we can do that soon. I just want to wait until I lose this weight. I'd feel terrible having sex while I felt like a deflated balloon. I'd probably burst into tears," She handed him an empty glass, "Now please go replenish my ice chips."

Puck sighed, took the glass, and left the room. When he closed the door he saw Mr. Schuster coming towards him. Puck walked over to meet him halfway. "Are you leaving now?"

Mr. Schuster shook his head. "I will when you mom gets here, but I don't want you two here alone not knowing what to do. That's not what I had to tell you though. Puck, since Quinn is not emancipated yet, her guardians are still legally her parents so I had to kill Mrs. Fabray and tell her what was going on."

Puck nodded. "So what, did she tell you to screw off? Tell you that she didn't care?" Puck was still mad at the Fabrays for kicking Quinn out when she was so young and going through a time where she needed her parents the most.

Mr. Schuster looked nervous. "No… she's actually here. She called me right now to tell me she's parking her car and she'll be in the hospital in a minute. I thought you should know before she barged into the room."

Puck thanked Mr. Schuster for telling him and started walking into the direction of the hospital entrance. He wanted to catch Mrs. Fabray before she went into the room and made Quinn more stressed out and frustrated than she already was. He also knew that there was a lot of explaining that he would have to do. He caught her as she walked into the door of the hospital. He walked over to he and took a deep breath.

"Hey Mrs. Fabray."

She frowned when she looked at him. "Where's my daughter?"

She shot him one of her famous dirty looks and Puck thought back to the seventh grade when Quinn's mom was the most frightening person he knew. He had grown up a lot since then and he realized that he knew scarier people than Mrs. Fabray, but none of them could shoot a look dirtier than she could. Puck had to stand his ground though. "She doesn't want to see you."

Mrs. Fabray stared down the boy she had been so tough on as a child. "Listen you little punk, my daughter is having a baby so you either tell me where she is or tell me where Finn is so I can go see her as soon as possible."

Puck took a deep breath. Everything was going to unfold in the matter of about a minute. "Finn isn't here."

"What do you mean? Stop with all the lying. He's the father."

Puck shook his head. "Okay listen when I tell you this you aren't going to scream or make a scene. I don't want Quinn hearing with those bat-like ears of hers. Finn isn't here because he isn't the father. I am."

Puck thought that Mrs. Fabray was going to faint. She didn't. All she did was keep repeating the phrase, _'Oh no'_ multiple times, and walk over to a couch to sit on as she tried to regain her composure. Puck sat down next to her.

She looked at him and confusion was written all over her face. "She… she told me and her father that Finn was the father. She had… with _both_ of you?"

Puck was not going to let Mrs. Fabray think that Quinn was some big slut. He immediately interjected, "No, she made up some big story and Finn with his few remaining brain cells bought it. I was the only one… and it was just the one time."

Mrs. Fabray slapped Puck across the face. He saw tears in her eyes and her mascara was running slightly. "You couldn't have stayed away from my daughter? I didn't make that clear enough for you in grade school, or in middle school? I told you to stay away. You're a no good, Jewish brat who got my daughter pregnant!"

Puck rubbed his cheek. It stung. He wanted to yell at Quinn's mom. He wanted to call her every name in the book. He wanted to tell her that she was a frigid cold bitch anti-Semite, but he knew that it was no use. "I've got a job, and Quinn's living with me. I'm taking care of her and I'm going to take care of our daughter. It shouldn't be too hard. I know I'll be a better parent than you were."

Mrs. Fabray wiped the tears from her eyes with a tissue she had in her coat pocket. "You don't understand. We raised her right. We gave her everything and all her father and I asked was that she not have sex… or date you, but mostly just for her to remain a virgin. After all we did for her she couldn't do the one thing we asked of her. She had sex, and now it turns out that it was with you. Her father couldn't accept it, and he shouldn't. Quinn was wrong. She made a huge mistake. This is not the way that Fabrays go about life."

Puck knew that it was time to start lying. He knew that Quinn missed her parents, she had told him one night as they laid in bed. She wanted them to love her again. Puck would see to it that her wish would come true. Even if it meant that he had to make himself look like a complete jerk.

"It was all my fault. I pressured her to have drinks and then I pressured her to have sex. You can be mad at me, but don't be mad at her. If she wasn't drunk I don't think she would have done it."

Mrs. Fabray looked like she was going to slap Puck again. He flinched, but she didn't do anything. She was stunned. "I knew it." She finally whispered.

Puck nodded. "So you can blame me, but I'm trying to make up for that mistake. I'm being a good guy to her. We haven't done anything except kiss since she moved in with me. I'm trying to be a good father too. Don't be mad at Quinn. She doesn't deserve it."

"Her father will never forgive her." Mrs. Fabray said it matter-of-factly.

"Can't you convince him to come and see her once? She is his granddaughter. After he's sees her he'll have to forgive Quinn. I know it. You know it. Can't you do it?"

"It's a girl," That fact brightened up her eyes, "Maybe… but I want to see Quinn now."

Puck shook his head. "She's about to have the baby and she doesn't need to get all worked up. She won't want to call you for a while, but in a couple of weeks I think that I can convince her to invite you and Mr. Fabray over. You just have to get him to come. And you guys can only see Quinn and the baby if you're going to be cool about it. If you're going to be assholes and yell at Quinn then forget about coming."

Mrs. Fabray finally accepted things and left the hospital. Puck went back to the room where Quinn was waiting. She told him that she thought it would happen soon. Thirty minutes later Mrs. Puckerman arrived and Mr. Schuster left, telling the couple that when they were ready for people to visit, to give him a call and he would bring the whole Glee Club over to see the baby girl.

Mrs. Puckerman offered Quinn a whole bunch of advice, but most turned out to be old wives' tales. Finally, after nine hours of waiting, the time came, and Quinn went into labour. Mrs. Puckerman was told to leave the room. Puck stayed, and held Quinn's hand the entire time. He told her to squeeze it as hard as she needed to. Boy, did he regret saying that. He never realized it before, but Quinn was a lot stronger than she looked.

But fifty-seven minutes later, Puck and Quinn's daughter was brought into the world. Quinn smiled as the doctor lifted her daughter up so that she could see. Quinn could not be happier that everything was finally over, her daughter was here, Puck was with her, and her life was starting to seem like it could work out.

Puck had a different reaction. As soon as he saw his daughter he started to cry. He couldn't believe that he – Noah Puckerman, local stud and badass, was forming tears in his eyes at the sight of his daughter. However, he was overwhelmed with how tiny, beautiful, and perfect his little daughter looked.

After the umbilical cord was cut and she was cleaned up, Quinn was allowed to hold her daughter. She was a little nervous as the baby looked so fragile that she could break, but Quinn held her and placed a light kiss on the top of her head.

"We need to name her." Quinn reminded Puck. Puck smiled. He had always thought Quinn would name the baby. Quinn deserved to name her after all she had been through, but she was asking him for his advice, so he seriously thought about what he wanted to name his perfect little girl.

"What about Caroline? Then I could always sing that song to her."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "And remind me how you serenaded Rachel with it back in the day? No thank you. You'll be able to find another song to sing to our daughter."

Puck smirked. He enjoyed that Quinn was real with him and could put him in his place. He looked down at his baby girl – he still couldn't believe she was real. "Well, what do you want to name her?"

Quinn smiled, and lightly traced her fingers over their daughter's head. "I was thinking… maybe Blaire?"

Their daughter reached her tiny hand out and Puck held let her hold on to his thumb. He could not believe ho precious a baby could be. He looked back up at Quinn. "Does this have to do with you watching Gossip Girl fro three hours straight yesterday?"

Quinn shook her head. "I've always liked it. What do you think?"

Puck really didn't care what his daughter was named. He had her, and he had Quinn and that was all that mattered. He wouldn't love her anymore or less depending on her name. Plus, Quinn really did deserve to choose her name after the tough time she had the last nine months. "Sure… Blaire sounds perfect. Now, can I hold her?"

Quinn giggled and carefully passed Blaire to Puck's arms. He could not believe that she was finally here. It had felt like so long since he had found out that Quinn was pregnant, or when everyone found out he was the father, or even when Quinn had told him that she wanted him to be involved with both her and the baby. It didn't matter though. The wait was worth it. He had Quinn and Blaire and that was all he needed. The road ahead was a long and hard one, but Puck did not mind. He knew that it was the only road he belonged on.

He took a deep breath and started to softly sing to Blaire as to not wake her up from her peaceful sleep.

_Isn't she lovely  
Isn't she wonderful  
Isn't she precious  
Less than one minute old  
I never thought through love we'd be  
Making one as lovely as she  
But isn't she lovely made from love_

Quinn smiled. She thought back to how hard she had worked on not loving Puck over the years. She realized it was much easier to love him, even when he made a few mistakes, then it was to try to hate him. It was especially easier to do so when he performed such sweet acts as singing _Isn't She Lovely _to their daughter.

Two days later, when Blaire was brought home, Puck and Quinn invited the Glee Club over to meet her. Kurt claimed to dress her in green as everyone knew that green was the new pink. Brittany didn't understand why Quinn's stomach hadn't become flat yet since the baby was out already. Santana tried to be nice and didn't make any mentions of the quick fling she had with Finn. She simply told Quinn that Blaire looked very pretty and that she was happy for both Quinn and Puck.

Puck had honestly not thought Finn would come, and he didn't blame him. He had crossed the line, and broken the most major rule of best friendship. Never mess around with your best friend's girlfriend. That was why Puck thought he was going to have a heart attack when he saw Rachel leading Finn in by the hand five minutes after everyone else had arrived.

"He was waiting in the car. He didn't really want to come at first, but after some convincing he decided that he would stay for a few minutes and leave if it gets too awkward. He's trying… maybe you should too."

Puck knew that Rachel was right. If Finn was willing to come and see the baby that he had thought was his for months only to discover it was actually his best friend's, well then Puck could manage to apologize.

Puck walked over to Finn who was waiting at the back of the living room while everyone was by the couch with Quinn, cooing over Blaire.

"Hey man." Puck put his hands in his pockets and shifted awkwardly.

Finn, as tall as ever, glared down at Puck. "So, you're a dad now."

Puck nodded. He cleared his throat. "Listen dude, I'm really sorry about what happened. It's just… I liked Quinn since the first grade, and it felt like you had stolen her away from me… but that's not an excuse. I shouldn't have done it. I'm sorry."

Finn looked over at Mr. Shuster who was now holding Blaire. "What's her name?"

"Blaire," Finn made a face as Puck told him, "I know, but Quinn liked it and I thought that she should be the one to name her."

"I'm not happy about what happened, alright? But it's been four months and I've been talking with Rachel and… well maybe it wouldn't be too bad if we were friends again. Obviously not best friends… but we could be friendly."

Puck nodded. He was grateful for that. He had expected Finn to never want to speak to him ever again. Being friendly with each other was almost like a miracle.

Life started moving on. Blaire was enrolled in daycare and Puck and Quinn went back to school. They tried their hardest to juggle school, Glee, work, and Blaire all at once, and it was hard. However, with help from friends and family they realized that it wasn't impossible.

Puck called Mrs Fabray one day. He thought it would be best to make sure that her parents were coming over before Quinn got her hopes up. He asked Mrs. Fabray what a good day for her would be to come over and meet Blaire. Mrs. Fabray told him that she would call him back later when she had checked her schedule. She never called back.

It was alright. Puck realized that Quinn didn't need her parents. She seemed to be happy where she was. Blaire was growing fast, and Puck knew how hard it was going to be to raise Blaire, but he didn't care. Somewhere along the way he had grown up, and realized that although teenage parenthood was not what he had planned on, it was where he was, and he was content with it.

One night Quinn crawled into bed after being awoken to feed Blaire. She whispered, "Puck, are you awake?"

He rolled over, opened his eyes, and nodded. "What's up?"

Quinn pressed her cold feet to Puck's warm legs to warm up. He shivered and she giggled. "Are you happy?"

Puck leaned in and kissed Quinn on the lips. "Yeah, I am."

"Good, because so am I." She kissed his cheek and rolledover to go to back to sleep.

Puck shifted closer to Quinn and leaned in to whisper in her ear, "I love you Quinn."

It was the first time he had said it. He knew that she knew he loved her, but he had never actually gotten the courage to tell her. Now, as Puck was staring at Quinn who had turned back over and was staring him in the eyes, he wanted nothing more than for her to say it back.

"I love you too Noah. Now, let's go back to sleep, you have a math test tomorrow morning."

Noah. He was back to Noah. It had been a long journey to get back to who he used to be, but Noah was so glad that he had reached it. He now had the girl he loved, a daughter, and great friends. It made up for late nights working, and barely managing to pay bills because he had what he needed, and what he needed was all that he wanted.

The End.

_I hope you all like this story! It's been my favourite story that I've written thus far! _

_Thank you to everyone who read/reviewed/story alerted/favourited this story. You guys are so awesome and I appreciate all of you so much!_

_I will be writing another Puck/Quinn story. It will most likely be the Quinn-Puck-Rachel love triangle, but I also have a couple other ideas so I'm not too sure._

_If you have the time, I would really appreciate it if you could leave a review! Writers love feedback, even if it's just a quick message! :)_

_Thank you all again so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed this story!_

_Until next time,_

_Happy Reading_


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